The Voiceless Necromancer
by TheZettaFactor
Summary: Two years after the situation in the UG, a gamble is taken. A girl learns the horrible truths of the UG. My take on the secret ending of Solo Remix. Chapters 1 & 2 have been re-written. Rated T for language.
1. Week 1, Day 5

I've only published two chapters so far, but I decided to re-write it already. Didn't really lead it in well.

* * *

**UNKNOWN TIME  
**

* * *

_I gambled._

_Ever since then, I would often think to myself, "It's a wonderful world..."_

_Who would have ever thought I'd be gambling again?_

* * *

**WEEK ?, DAY ?**

* * *

Everything ached.

My head ached, my arms were numb, and my legs went limp.

I couldn't feel anything, and couldn't even let out a simple groan.

I felt like I was floating.

I tried prying my eyes open, but nothing.

I heard a voice, but I wasn't sure what it was saying. The person's tone was teasing me, even letting out a little chuckle. I wanted to ask what was happening, but my voice betrayed me. Every attempt at speaking resulted in a pinching feeling in my chest. My pleas came out as airy squeals. I finally gave in, and sank into the deep abyss of my consciousnesses.

* * *

Everything ached.

My head ached, my arms were numb, and my legs went limp.

I sat up, but with the price of my muscles screaming to stop. I tried to open my eyes, but the incoming beams of light closed them again. I felt around me, and found out I was lying down on concrete. I sat up and attempted to open my eyes again, though towards the ground, and true to my deduction, it was concrete. Or more precisely, the road.

I jolted at the situation I realized I was in and attempted to stand up. My legs were still numb, and I fell backwards. I looked ahead of me to see a red light.

_Good,_ I thought. _I have time... _

I started crawling towards the sidewalk, hopelessly groping the crevasses and small potholes of the road. I felt my face form into a horrific wince. There were only 5 seconds until pedestrians couldn't cross anymore, meaning the cars would go. I clenched my teeth, trying much more desperately to pull myself to safety

I tried screaming for help, but nothing came out.

Sitting up, I still tried to scream, and started hugging something I found on my lap. I closed my eyes, but all I felt was a gust of wind. I modestly cracked open my right eye, only to see more cars headed in my way, but they all seemed to go right through me. Nothing hit me except for the breeze and dust they left behind.

I looked behind me, and true to my conclusion, they did go right through me. I looked down to my hands, which were still trembling with fear, and tried pounding the concrete. It hurt, meaning they were solid. I wasn't a ghost...

Then I came to a realization that I was holding something when the first car approached. I looked down at my lap and saw a plush toy. It was black, and resembled a cat. I grabbed its two arms and stood up. My legs were still jittery, but they weren't as numb and I was able to stand up without a problem. A car passed through me again, and the gust of wind blew the doll from my hands.

I walked over to pick it up. As I leaned down, I noticed a shadow blocking the light from behind me. As I got back up, I looked behind me to see some floating symbols. There were maybe a dozen of them. I was confused at first, but then felt my eyes widen in fear when I saw them attempt to charge at me.

I jumped out of the way right on time, but now I was a sitting duck, lying on the sidewalk again. I must have scratched my face in the process, but did not feel trickling blood.

The symbols bumped into each other where I should've been, but quickly drifted back to their original formation. The circle of symbols then floated towards my direction.

I tried to call for help, but my voice still hadn't returned. I felt myself shaking in fear, and clutched the doll closer to my chest. As they were all about to have impact on me, they disappeared into static. I sat there for another moment in fear, trying to figure out what just happened.

_Sitting here won't solve this,_ I thought after a moment.

With that, I stood up again. I started to approach the closest person near me, but I heard a scream.

"HELP!" a voice echoed.

I looked around me, and to my astonishment, not a soul around me even acknowledged it.

"NOOO!" a different voice followed, but clearly from the same direction.

I glowered at the coldness of everyone around me and sped towards the voice. I was breathing heavily by the time I reached the alley where the voice came from. There was a teenaged boy, kneeling down before some static. His back was to me, and was also cornered by two of those same floating red symbols that had tried to attack me from only moments ago.

_So we're in the same situation..._

The two symbols started drifting backwards, but that was proven to only catch speed, as they expedited towards the crouching boy.

_Watch out!_ I wanted to scream. Knowing that I couldn't speak, I sped in front of the symbols and took the blow.

I was knocked back into the brick wall. The impact was so great that the wall should've broken, but instead, I just fell to the ground. I cringed in pain, and I felt volts of electricity pulse through my veins with every movement I made. My attempt to stand up was futile, and I slumped back to the ground.

"W-What the?!" I heard the second voice.

I tilted my head to look up at him. I felt my eyes twitching at every attempt to open. He was looking down at me with a worried expression. The symbols behind him were stationary.

The boy had dark blue hair, almost close enough to be black. It was messy and uneven and flowed down to around his lower cheek. There was a stray strand of hair that lifted away from his face. He seemed slender, but was wearing a baggy plaid dress shirt. He had black fingerless gloves with the texture of a cast, but was too thin to be one. His jeans were skin tight, but as they got to his ankles, got extremely baggy and wrinkled, even covering his shows. Despite his fear-stricken face, it was clear that his facial expression was naturally mundane.

"Why didn't you go into battle? You could've dodged it..! Where's your partner?" he asked hastily.

_Partner..? Is it this doll?_

I extended my arm to grab the plush toy that laid a few inches from my face, wincing at the pain altogether.

Realization then hit the boy's face. "You don't have a partner! Quick! I lost mine too! Let's make a pact before it's too late!" he said, but despite his enthusiasm, I could see that his face was doleful and full of fear. He held out his hand, and I feebly reached for it.

Immediately, we were both surrounded by a beam of light, and we were brought into the air. We started encircling each other.

_What the..?!_

My shock must have shown on my face, for the boy looked at me with an uncanny interest.

After a few seconds, we were gently placed on the floor. All of my pain was gone. I rotated my right shoulder to make sure it wasn't just numbness.

The boy landed gracefully in front me, and disappeared a second later. I blinked, trying to process what just happened.

When I opened my eyes, I saw that time seemed to have stopped, and every living thing had disappeared.

A haunting expression crept on my face as I looked around desperately for an answer.

Three blue frogs materialized in front of me, but they seemed... Off. It was as if they were graffiti that were drawn to life. Glad that something had finally shown up, I slowly approached them, cautious not to scare them off. They seemed to approach me too, but when they got to close, the one closest to me jumped on my face. It had a stinging sensation, and a pulse of electricity jolted me with every second it remained on.

I hysterically tried to pry it off of my face. I was screaming, but all I heard was the air escaping from my throat. There was no voice.

The pain of the frog on my face overtook me and I fell on my back. Seeing that prying wouldn't didn't work, I derived to punching it. The frog seemed to respond by jumping off without a care. I stumbled backwards, but only pressed against the wall.

When I took another look, there was only that one frog left. I frantically looked around for the other two, but didn't find them. I saw the black plush toy standing where one of the missing frogs were, and the one that had jumped off of me a few inches to its right.

The plush toy then jumped in the air at an incredible height and landed in front of me with its back facing me. Fearing that it was planning to suction itself to my face as the frog did, I kicked it. However, instead of retaliating, the plush toy sprinted forward and landed a fiery kick to the frog. It turned into static and fizzed out of my vision._Did I... Control it?_I blinked again, but three more frogs materialized.

_I have nothing to lose..._

I stuck some jabs into the air, and the plush toy responded by speeding up to the closest frog and hit it with quick jabs, beating it into static. The toy jumped back to my front and jounced in place. I did an uppercut, and the toy did the same to the closest frog. The frog dissolved into static and flickered out of reality. The last frog stared at me, but before I could attempt to even do anything, it turned into static as well.

I blinked. The scenery went back to normal. Time was flowing, and all of the people were back. The plush appeared out of thin air in front of me and fell limp into my arms, much to my surprise. A second later, the boy reappeared before me, with a semi melancholic face.

I attempted to ask him what happened, but I only mouthed the words, for my voice had yet to return.

The boy seemed to ignore my presence and walked past me, going back to the place he was kneeling at before, except that there was nothing there.

"Yuudai..." he said hoarsely, but quietly. "I won't let your sacrifice go to waste..." He then looked up at the sky.

_"Yuudai..." Don't tell me... His friend was gone? Were those symbols responsible?  
_

I walked towards him in an attempt to comfort him, and extended my arm to poke his shoulder.

* * *

**WEEK 1, DAY ? : ****END**

* * *

This is my take on the secret ending from Solo Remix. The picture of the high school girl holding her mouth in a weird way. I went by the guess that she's mute, maybe her voice being her entrance fee, or maybe not. Either way, no voice.

The name Yuudai? To be honest, I just googled japanese names and picked ones that seemed like they'd fit in the TWEWY atmosphere. Apparently it means "Great Hero," but I can't confirm that.

This is only my second story, the first being a oneshot. I'd like some criticism to improve my work, for as you can see, I'm pretty bad at writing.

In fact, I re-wrote this and chapter two.


	2. Week 1, Day 6

**WEEK 1, DAY ?  
**

* * *

Everything ached.

My head ached, my arms were numb, and my legs went limp. I had a strange feeling of deja vu.

I wasn't feeling my best. Mother would understand if I couldn't go to school today. Giving into the pain, I reached for my blanket to go back to sleep. As I groped the air, I saw that I found nothing.

I cracked open my eyes, just to shut them again.

_'Too much light.'_

I sat up. The ground greeted my hands with a sting, as a pebble dug into my palms. I looked around me.

_'I'm in the streets?'_

As a car sped right into me, not even leaving the slightest impact, I remembered where I was. Some strange purgatory that seemed very real. Today, I was going to find out answers. I looked for that boy whom I had helped yesterday. I was still angered at the fact that he ran away from me when all I was trying to do was help.

"We were lucky..." his voice lingered behind me.

He was across the street, but strangely enough, I heard his voice clearly. I walked over. He was leaning against the wall.

_'What happened to us? I remember seeing him kneeling down in a corner, but...'  
_

"Someone must've finished the mission for us..." he said, not caring to make eye contact. He looked at the ground beneath him and sighed. "If only we hadn't teased that reaper..."

_'Reaper?'_

My confusion must have shown on my face, for he answered me in a matter-of-factually tone.

"I forgot her name, but..." he paused, "I'll definitely get her before this week's end." That wasn't the answer I was looking for. "By the way, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Katsu. Thanks for making that pact with me, I guess. And your name?" he asked apathetically.

I only stared at him. It wasn't as if I could answer him.

He raised an eyebrow. "Is something wrong?" he asked, somewhat irritated.

I nodded a little.

"Huh? Can't you talk?"

I shook my head no.

"Oh... I see. Your voice was your entry fee," he concluded.

I cocked my head to the side. '_What's he talking about?'_

"..." He hesitated. "I see, then. You're mute. I'm sorry for bringing it up."

_'...Mute? I'm not mute... Not that I think...'_

The confusion must have shown on my face, for he gave me a dumbfounded look.

_'I don't remember anything before yesterday, but I'm not mute... That much I'm sure of.'_

"Then what is it?"

I shrugged.

He took on a perplexed look, but shook it off.

"It was a good thing you came along. If you hadn't we would both be gone... But Yuudai still is," he said in a melancholic way.

_'Yuudai? Oh... His friend from yesterday. Those things killed him, didn't they?'_

"So you lost your partner too..."

_'Partner?'_

He looked at me, clearly baffled, but trying to hide it. "Don't tell me... You've been on the run for five days?!"

_"On the run?" _I shot him a quizzical stare.

Sensing he wouldn't get anywhere, he dropped the topic. "Anyway, we didn't get the mission mail yet. I'd like to use this opportunity to hunt down that reaper. The one that I suspected ambushed us."

I gave him a questionable look.

"Yuudai was sort of a jokester. There was this reaper that looked like a little kid. He teased her about it, and she'd get easily flustered. She took it seriously though," Katsu explained. Then, he took something out of his pocket and held it up between his index and middle finger. "We made a bet, and won this pin. She wasn't too happy about it."

I nodded, understanding where this was going.

"She's made attempts to get it back, but none really worked. Until she ambushed us with a bunch of noise yesterday..." Katsu started clenching his left fist and looked down. "That usually wasn't her style, but.. We got through most of them... There were only two noise vigils left, but I guess he was caught off guard. I didn't see what happened. We fight in different zones, after all..."

_Different zones? I guess that explains why he disappeared, but... What's a zone?_

"Before I knew it, I was exhausted without even getting hit, and I knew what that meant. A minute later Yuudai and I were teleported out of the noise plane."

_;...What is he talking about?'_

"He was on the floor screaming and flared into static in mere seconds, and ultimately... Out of reality. And I would've too," Katsu explained. "But you came along, and I was able to make another pact. When Yuudai and I were having trouble during Day 2, a man came over and told us that if one of us gets erased, the partner gets erased within the next seven minutes. That is, unless the partner makes another pact..."

I didn't get at all what he was saying. My face must have shown it.

"You aren't even following? How did you even get past the first five days?" he asked, slightly irritated.

I continued to stare at him. I didn't know how to respond to that.

"You really don't get what's going on?" his tone softened a bit, if only slightly. "But you have to be part of The Reaper's Game. I was able to make a pact with you. And you see me, don't you?"

I hesitantly nodded my head.

"I'll tell you on the way. We're looking for that reaper," he asserted.

I would've argued, but I had no voice, and didn't know what was going on.

"Here," he said, back to his old, mundane voice. Katsu extended his arm. "We only bet that reaper because this is ostensibly a really powerful pin. I can't use high leveled pin psychs anyway. I'm not even sure if you can, or even know how to. I'm pretty sure this will be more of a use to you."

I held out my palm, and he dropped the pin onto my hand. I re-grasped it and examined it from an angle. It was mostly black and white, and it had the design of a graffiti styled bear. When I twisted my wrist, I noticed at certain angles that its nose turned into a pink heart.

"Anyway, let's go before the-"

A ring came from both of our phones.

"Damn it," he muttered under his breath and took out his phone. I did the same. It was a text message.

"_Avenge the bear._

_Find and return it. _

_If you already have it, protect it._

_You have 120 minutes._

_Fail, and face erasure._

_-The Reapers_"

A burning sensation came to my hand. I hissed, but didn't make a sound. I the back of my hand up to my face. It was a clock. _'No, a timer.'_ I looked down at the boy's hand too, and saw he had one as well. However, he seemed unscathed by its appearance.

"Damn it!" he cursed. He grabbed my arm, and we sprinted away. "Let's go!"

I didn't dare object. He was angry, clearly, but it was obviously just the spur of the moment. I retracted my arm and kept my pace with him. We were running left. All of the sudden, he went to a halting stop, almost jolting forward from momentum. However, I didn't stop in time, and ran smack into thin air.

_What the?!_

"No use, a wall!" he said as if he was biting on cinnamon.

I shot him a look questioning what he meant.

"I'll explain later!" he exclaimed, and pulled me in the other direction.

* * *

"Huff... Huff... Alright... I think we're good," he said, gasping for air.

I myself depleted of energy, but didn't feel an urge to breathe.

We had apparently hit a "wall," and so we went straight. We passed by a few more buildings, and now we were in a concert hall, or from what I could tell. It was pitch black. The only thing I could see were the things close to me. Katsu and a door.

"We may be in an isolated building, but we should still keep it down..." Katsu said. "Alright. I know you have questions, and I'll try to answer. I'm going to guess the first one is about 'The Reaper's Game.'"

I nodded.

"It's a game where people from Shibuya are gathered into a game, located in the UG. A plane parallel to the RG, where everyone else is." He noticed my confusion, and tried to explain the best that he could. "We're obviously in the UG. We can see everyone in the RG, but they can't see us."

I nodded, still unsure of what he was shook his head, disapproving of his own words.

"I'll skip the small details." He looked at the ceiling, thinking to himself. "This game lasts a week. Whoever lasts the whole week gets a second chance, but we have to complete missions in order to do so. These missions usually concern noise in some way, so the only way they can be completed is by players making another pact."

_So that levitating light thing from yesterday... We made a pact._

"Luckily enough," Katsu continued, "if one pair finishes a mission, we all do. But these missions usually aim to erase players, the equivalence to death. Erasure from existence."

But there was still wasn't one thing I didn't understand.

Katsu seemed to sense my confusion. "Noise?"

I wasn't sure what a noise was, other than a sound, but how could one defeat sound? I shook my head. That wasn't the answer I meant.

"A pact?" The same confusion as noise, but I shook my head again. "Oh... A second chance." Katsu's face grew grim. He bowed his head. "We're dead," he said in a deadpanned voice.

_Dead..?_

"Yes, dead..." Katsu said again, though not as melancholic. "And we're fighting for our lives."

I gradually felt my face become more and more surprised.

_Dead? I don't even remember living..._

Katsu went on, not wasting a second to let it sink in my mind. "To enter the game, well, you don't have a choice. You have to had died at the right time, and you were chosen."

My face didn't quell in even the slightest way. After a moment, I managed to nod, though mindlessly.

"To enter, you had to submit an entry fee; the thing most dearest to you..." Katsu hesitated before continuing. "In Yuudai's case, it was his memory. He didn't even remember we were brothers when he was erased," he admitted scornfully. Despite his tone, he didn't seem agitated at Yuudai, rather the game itself.

My face softened. I felt something stirring inside of me.

"And for me, it was my identity," he continued emotionlessly.

The stirring feeling from inside of me grew.

"I have no hopes, dreams, or ambitions..." Katsu paused. "Right now at least," he muttered. "Which makes me think, what was your entry fee?" he asked me rhetorically.

I was startled._ 'What did I find most dearest?' _I remembered nothing at all, and that realization horrified me.

"You can't speak," Katsu stated, "and you don't recall being mute before." He looked at me for confirmation.

I nodded.

"Which leads me to think your entree fee was your voice. But at the same time, you don't seem to remember anything about yourself..." Katsu observed. "Which makes me think your entree fee was your memory as well." Katsu ruminated on his theories.

I was curious with what he could come up with.

"Perhaps you died with a blow to the head," Katsu concluded.

I cringed at the thought.

"That would give you amnesia. And then your entry fee would be your voice," Katsu made sense."Yet again, why wouldn't you remember anything from the past five days?"

That part I had forgot about.

"Perhaps a blow to the head by a noise," Katsu reasoned to himself.

_So noise must be those floating red symbols..._

"But you would have been erased, if that was the case," Katsu countered. "Unless someone managed to save you, but left you when the deed was done. Hm... A mystery indeed."

Katsu seemed to be losing concentration on the mission at hand. Deciding to remind him what we were doing in an empty concert hall, I took out the bear pin from my pocket. To my surprise, there were three more pins. They were a pristine silver with another graffiti styled animal. Frogs.

"Ah yes, pins," Katsu said as he noticed my hands. "Psychs are ways of attacking, and most people can use pins."

I looked at them, trying to think about what to use it meant.

"However, only people with a certain prowess can use the really powerful ones," Katsu explained. "The man from Day 2 told us that your power and psychs are determined by imagination, but... I don't get what that means."

_Neither do I._

* * *

Katsu had explained everything that he knew about "The Reaper's Game" and told me about Shibuya itself. He found it odd that I didn't have a player pin, but decided that it was unimportant, as the week was almost over, today being Day 6, and no imprinting or mind reading was likely to be done. He said that if anything, he'd handle it.

After he finished, he deducted that it wouldn't be safe staying in the same spot. We had left the concert hall, and went back where we came from; the Scramble Crossing.

"There are so many people here," Katsu observed. "It would be hard picking out a player, but just in case, act normal. I've already found a few players, and if we act scummy, they might try to scan us."

I nodded in understanding.

"We're also on a side job. If you see a little girl with blond and purple hair, tell me," he asked in a demanding tone. It was more of an order than a request.

I nodded again.

"Like the Concert Hall, we shouldn't stay here for long. The route to the sewers is blocked off at the train station, so we'll go down the Center Street Entrance."

_'This is pretty extreme... Did I eat some bad food or something?'_

"This is bad..!" Katsu muttered to me hoarsely, interrupting my thoughts.

I curiously looked up and knew what he meant.

There was a group of teenagers standing in the middle of the street. No one around them took notice to them. Although I couldn't scan them or see any of them wearing player pins, only a player would have the audacity to stand in the middle of traffic. There were about a dozen of them, clearly conversing about the mission.

"We should make our move before they notice us first," Katsu snarled. "Follow my lead,"

I nodded in agreement.

We made our way to the group, who quickly took notice of us, due to the cars passing through us.

"More players, cool!" a girl cried.

"Yeah..." another one responded more skeptically.

"Hello there," a boy greeted formally.

Katsu bowed his head in response with a meek smile.

I flashed a grin.

I felt guilty that in order for Katsu and I to win, it would have to lead to all of these people's demise. In fact, I was willing to confess that we had "the bear," but whenever I attempted to pull the pin from my pocket, my hand seemed to freeze up and put itself back in place, much to my agitation. It was also clear that Katsu was in it to win.

During my attempts to get my hand to obey me, Katsu was conversing with the group, clandestinely uncomfortable for more than one reason.

"What about her?" a boy asked. This brought me back to my senses.

I looked up, and now the group was staring at me.

"She's my partner," Katsu answered cooly.

"But why hasn't she been saying anything?" the boy asked again.

"Rather suspicious if you ask me..."

"Yeah, I haven't even seen that uniform around Shibuya!" another girl followed.

A few more "yeah's" followed.

I managed to keep my face unfazed, but was getting increasingly nervous.

"Say something," another boy pressed, and he stepped forward.

I didn't know how to respond.

"She can't speak," Katsu intervened. Even though it wasn't for my sake, I was grateful. "Her voice was her entry fee."

"Oh... I'm sorry," another girl apologized.

A few more teenagers nodded, saying their apologies.

Once their attention was turned back to Katsu, I tried taking the pin from my pocket again. However, one boy looked at me, almost disapproving, and I knew he suspected something was going on. He had blonde hair and sharp eyes. He was in the back of the crowd, so I didn't see anything else of him. For some reason, he stuck out of the rest. There was this stirring feeling, and I felt uneasy. I turned my head; I must have been staring.

"So, Katsu, do you know anything about this mission?" another boy asked. "We've been sitting around all day trying to figure something out."

"Yeah, and you guys are only the fifth pair of players we me-" a girl said from the back, but was hushed by another one next to her.

I shot my eyes at Katsu, who clearly didn't notice.

The girl earned herself a few glares from some of the other members and looked down.

"Is something wrong, you guys?" Katsu asked.

"No, not at all..." the girl responded.

"I see," Katsu responded. "No, my partner and I have not found out anything about the mission."

"Hey, why don't we meet back here in five minutes? If we go out in different directions, we're bound to find out something," a boy suggested. His tone seemed a little spurious.

"Yeah, good idea!" a girl chimed.

"Alright, my partner and I will go to CAT Street then," Katsu suggested.

"Oh, good! We cleared the wall leading to it!" the girl chimed again.

"But first, don't you think she needs a name?" another girl suggested.

"What about 'Hype?'" the girl that was looking down at the ground earlier suggested.

"Why Hype?" the boy suspicious of me asked.

"Because she's getting me all Hyped up!" the girl responded, and giggled to herself. "I mean, she's so mysterious!"

"Yeah, Hype..." another boy thought to himself. "I like it."

There were "mhm's" and a few of them nodding their heads.

"We'll go on ahead," Katsu said and tugged on the bottom of my tucked in blouse.

I turned in response.

"We'll meet you back here soon."

"Remember, we only have about 80 minutes left, so make it quick," one of the voices commanded from behind us.

I looked back curiously, while Katsu put his hand up in acknowledgement.

"Well that was..."

_'Interesting..?'_

* * *

Right now we were in what I believed to be Cadoi City. Apparently this was the way to CAT Street. I wanted to tell Katsu what I heard, but it seems that he beat me to it.

"You know, one of the girls was saying something about other players," Katsu told me.

I nodded in response.

"So you heard it too," Katsu confirmed. "I didn't want to bring it up. A fight against twelve other players is a loss for us."

He had a point.

"I suspect that they might have been erasing other players, desperately trying to find 'the bear.'"

That made me feel a little uneasy, and I paused in my tracks for a moment, before expediting to catch up to Katsu. I didn't want to believe that we were killing each other, but it was true.

"They're probably conversing of how to get rid of us now," Katsu explained. "That's why I said we should go to CAT Street."

I cocked my head. I didn't see how going to CAT Street would help.

Sensing my confusion, Katsu continued. "The man who helped Yuudai and I... On Day 2," he explained. Whenever he had to mention his old partner, he always seemed to hesitate, even for a moment."He told us he owns a cafe there."

I nodded my head, understanding what he meant. If this guy had helped him and Yuudai live at one point, he was sure to have more advice.

"Alright, so CAT Street is just past Towa Records and Miyashita Park." Something caught his eye in the distance. I tried moving around to see what he was looking at, but saw nothing. "Do me a favor and go on ahead," Katsu requested. "I'm going to get something that might help us. We need it, with all of the remaining players against us." He started walking towards Molco. "I won't be long. The man you meet there should fill you in on some loose ends."

I sent him a quizzical look, but proceeded anyway. I was questioning his request. _'__Wouldn't seperating make us both vulnerable? How was I supposed to even fill him in on what his friend tells me?'_ However, he hasn't given me any reason to distrust him yet.

I proceeded to Towa Records. I was starting to get jittery for some reason. I looked behind me, and no one stood out of the crowd. I shrugged it off, and kept going. The second I stepped into its "territory," I fell to my knees.

_'What's going on?'_

I felt a rousing of emotions. I couldn't define what they were.

I tried to stand up, but my legs betrayed me. _'__Why did this keep happening?'_

I sighed, and then took the moment to rest. I hadn't realized it, but I was feeling sort of exhausted. We haven't really done much, so it was rather peculiar.

When I was ready to stand up, the plush toy from yesterday appeared out of thin air and onto my lap.

It was rather ominous that this toy kept appearing and disappearing, but I accepted its uncanniness along with the game itself. I carried it by crossing my arms and holding it to my chest and proceeded to CAT Street.

* * *

The Cafe wasn't hard to find.

There was only one on CAT Street, but it was suspiciously empty. I was wary of entering.

In a way, I was nervous. _'__What would I say to this man? Wait... I can't even_ _speak!' _I sighed._ 'What am I supposed to do?'_

I turned around to leave, deciding to wait for Katsu, but a voice stopped me.

"Hello there, a customer!" someone's voice greeted me. "What can I do ya' for?"

I turned around. The man was behind the counter. He had an insouciant vibe to him, from his smoothed hair and classy clothes. I didn't know him, but for some unknown reason, I felt a little reassured seeing him.

He looked at me, and I saw his eyes trace down to the toy in my arms. He pursed his lips for a second, but immediately went back to his laid-back demeanor.

"Feel free to sit down," he invited cheerily. When I didn't move, he looked somewhat confused. "Is something wrong?"

I could only stare at him. This was pretty dang awkward... How I wished for a voice.

He hopped over the counter and walked towards me. "You now, not many people come here, haha!" He was trying to lighten the mood, sensing the uncomfortable moment between us. "My name's Sanae Hanekoma. Most people just call me by my last name though," he said, amicably extending his arm for a handshake.

I nodded and took his hand. It was somewhat awkward for me, and I retracted as fast as I could. Thankfully, this didn't seem to affect him. He actually laughed.

"Can I have yours?"

I shook my head.

He gave me a curious look. "Can you speak? You haven't said a word since you got here!" he said in a jocose manner.

I shook my head again.

He stopped himself from chuckling. "Oh... Wait a second," he said, running back to his counter and gracefully jumping over it.

I was left there, confused.

He came back, holding a bowl in his hands. "Come on over here!"

I assented, and sat down at a bar stool at the counter.

"Pumpkin stew!" he said a little too enthusiastically. "This will get your voice back up! Don't worry, it's on the house!"

I don't know why, but I found this rather funny. I giggled to myself, and even lifted one of my hands to my mouth to try and hide it. Hanekoma didn't seem to understand why, but laughed along anyway, delighted that I had lightened up. After a moment, I shook my head no, stopping him in his tracks.

"Oh, I see. You're mute. Sorry for taking it lightly."

I shook my head again. I didn't have a player pin, but I assumed any pin would be enough of an answer. I searched my pockets and picked out the bear pin. I slid it on the counter to Hanekoma.

His facial expression turned from frolicsome to composed when he realized what it meant.

"You've got a lot of people after you, young lady," Hanekoma said after a moment of tilting it in the light. Then he looked around the cafe. "Where's your partner? You have one, right?"

I nodded. He told me to come here, but I had no way of saying it.

"Seeing that you have this pin, it has to be Katsu or Yuudai, right?" he asked, somewhat hesitant to learn the answer.

I nodded my head solemnly.

"Oh... So one of them..." Hanekoma started, but decided against talking about it. "So your entry fee was your voice?" he asked, trying to change the topic.

I shrugged.

"Uh-huh..." Hanekoma had a look of bemusement. "Anyway, it's a good thing that Katsu or Yuudai sent you here."

I cocked my head to the side.

"Though it was pretty reckless to separate," he added. "I've been observing today's game, and there's a group of players. They caught on that 'the bear' is a pin."

I nodded, signaling for him to go on.

"And they've concluded that the pin is in someone's possession, which turned out to be true." Hanekoma slid the pin back to me. I took it and pocketed it. "These players are pretty desperate," he told me.

That much was obvious. Their voices seemed fake the second Katsu approached them.

"They've all been in an alliance since Day 1."

I nodded again, not knowing how this was relevant.

Seeing my confusion, Hanekoma nodded. "At the beginning of this day, there were twenty two players. Now, there are fourteen."

_'Fourteen...' _I knew where this was going.

"That group has been assaulting other players, looking for that pin."

I went wide-eyed. I already suspected this, as did Katsu, but hearing it confirmed... Sickened me.

Hanekoma, after telling me this information, went back to his lively self. "I don't usually help players," he teased, "but this time, I will." Hanekoma extended his hand, palm up. "Can I see your cellphone?"

I was puzzled, but reached into my pocket and handed it to him anyway. He took it to the back room of the cafe, which I assumed was the kitchen, and came back two minutes later. I flipped it open to see what he did.

"Now this is a one time thing!" he said in a semi-serious tone.

I saw that a map of Shibuya was added, but there were glowing dots. About half of them were in the area of the Shibuya department store, and the others in the Scramble Crossing. There was one in Cadoi City.

_'Was this..?'_

"Yup!" Hanekoma confirmed. "I watch over the game, and therefore have access to all its info. I used all of the remaining players' cellphone signals and used them to make a tracker."

I brightened at his kindness, and he gave a genial laugh.

"But it looks like they're heading this way," Hanekoma interrupted in a humorless tone. "You'd better move and get your partner."

I flashed him a grateful smile and nodded before running out of the cafe.

* * *

"Hype, what are you doing here?" Katsu asked.

I saw that my given name was going to be permanent. I was running back to try and find Katsu, but we ran into each other at Cadoi City. He was obviously pacing himself towards CAT Street, but I was rushing in a different direction.

"Did you meet Mr.H?" he asked eagerly.

I nodded. I didn't bother trying to explain to him what Hanekoma had told me; it wasn't as if I could speak anyway. I couldn't exaggerate that enough. I looked on my phone, and saw that the group of six was almost at Cadoi City. I grabbed Katsu's arm and ran towards Molco.

"H-Hey!" Katsu objected, astonished at my sudden behavior. I could see why. We weren't together for long, but I usually did nothing.

I made a mad sprint, holding onto Katsu's arm as if it meant my life, which it did in a way. I felt Katsu slip his arm out of my grip. When I looked back, I was relieved to see that he was keeping his pace with me.

I stopped when we reached Spain Hill. Katsu was panting, and I was leaning against a brick wall, trying to collect myself.

Katsu looked at me bitterly once he caught his breath. "What was that for?" he asked sharply. Despite this, I could tell he was angry in no way.

I took out my phone and showed him the map that Hanekoma had installed. I pointed at the two dots in Spain Hill. Then I gestured the both of us.

Katsu seemed to forget about his confusion and looked at the map of Shibuya intensively. "So he installed some sort of tracking device..."

I nodded. I then circled all of the dots that weren't us with my finger. I then made a cutting gesture at my neck.

"They're trying to kill us."

I nodded again.

"I see..." Katsu looked down at his hand. "We just have to hide out for about an hour then. This'll be pretty useful. By the way," Katsu continued. He pulled out something from his pocket. It was a golden pin. He extended his hand.

I extended mine, and he dropped the pin in my hand. _'__Is this real gold..?' _It had some sort of face on it.

"I won it in a Tin Pin contest," Katsu explained.

_'...Tin Pin Contest..? Tin Pin. He left in a dire situation for tin pin.' _I mentally facepalmed.

"I know what you're thinking, but this is a pretty powerful pin," Katsu snapped. "We only had two different kind of pins, anyway. Pins need to recharge after their use."

I nodded. There was still a lot I needed to learn about the UG. It wouldn't matter soon though.

Katsu and I decided to remain in Spain Hill.

After a moment, I started fidgeting. It was getting pretty boring. Katsu and I had been just watching dots on the map. Half of the group was still at the Scramble Crossing, and the other half was at Miyashita Park.

Katsu seemed to notice. "Yeah, I'm bored too."

I looked at him curiously.

"What do you want to do? Of course, we can't go any closer to them."

I thought of it for a moment. I shrugged, and pointed at him.

"Me..? Well..." Katsu ruminated on the idea. "If you don't mind, I'd like to go to Udagawa."

_'Udagawa..?'_

I looked at it on the map. It was isolated. I pursed my lips. If the groups were to come from both directions, we'd be cornered.'_We already are, in a way...'_ I reluctantly nodded my head.

* * *

It took about twenty minutes to get there. We weren't in a rush, so I took the time to take in the sights. I was trying to find something familiar that might remind me of my past, but nothing clicked.

"Sorry for bringing you out so far," Katsu said after long moments of silence.

I looked at him curiously.

"Yuudai worked in a record store here..." Katsu said, hesitating after he said his brother's name.

Yuudai only got erased yesterday, but Katsu was reminiscing as if it was years ago.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to talk to his co-worker..." He left without waiting for my reply. I would've said yes anyway, so I didn't go after him.

_"Udagawa..."_ The name sent shivers down my spine.

Maybe it was because of how isolated it was from the rest of Shibuya. There was a wall blocking the exit, and the only way to leave was go back.

I decided to explore a little, and went further into the back streets. There were a lot of alleyways and vandalized buildings, but in more of an artistic way. I noticed ahead of me that there was a mural. It was a cat with large gloved hands, or what I perceived it as anyway. Looking at it gave me a headache, and more of a stirring feeling. _I don't know why, but... It isn't safe there._

I turned around and walked back to around the "beginning" of Udagawa.

I leaned on the side of a railing and checked my hand. _Only thirty minutes... _Living would mean killing twelve others. That disturbed me earlier, but now that I knew they were also killing innocents, I was sickeningly pleased by it. I hated that feeling.

Curious of their whereabouts, I checked my phone. _'__Two __dots at CAT Street, two dots at AMX, two at A-East, and... Six at Spain Hill.'_

My eyes widened. They had realized that their search at CAT Street was a dead end, and now they were looking all across Shibuya for us.

I quickly tried to process the best escape strategy. They were closing in on us at AMX and Spain Hill... And they were moving faster than earlier. If we didn't leave now, we'd meet with the group of six. I saw that it would be the best decision to go towards the AMX. We were more likely to survive a fight there. I jolted towards the exit of the backstreets and realized Katsu was still at the record store.

I cursed at myself for forgetting something so crucial.

I ran, faster than earlier, and saw him leaving from the record store. He saw me as well, and took note that I was running.

"What happened?" he asked vigorously as I stopped in my tracks and jolted the other way.

I tossed him my cellphone, oblivious to the fact that it could've fallen and broke.

We left Udagawa, and two seconds later, I heard Katsu scream out a curse.

"Hey, you guys!" we heard a voice.

Katsu and I stopped, but we were going so fast that our feet skidded a few inches before actually stopping.

The group of six found us.

"Hello there," Katsu replied, breathing unevenly.

The group was much less genial than earlier. They weren't even trying to put on a friendly facade this time.

"I thought you were going to CAT Street," a tall boy from the back asked.

"... We were," Katsu replied unsurely. He started inching towards me.

"This is in the opposite direction," a girl informed.

Once Katsu was behind me, he tugged on my blouse. We dashed in to the right.

"Hey, where are you guys going?" a deep voice said from in front of us.

_'Damn it..! The guys in AMX caught up to us!'_

Katsu and I halted again, and backed up. I decided to watch his back, and went around him, but the other group of six was right behind us. We were back to back.

"Hype."

I turned my head to look at him. I only saw half of the back of his head.

"There's only fifteen minutes left. Let's make them count!"

My vision became blurred.

* * *

After I blinked a few times, my vision came back to me. I was in Tipsy Tose Hall, and there was not another human in sight.

_'Oh no...'_

Four people materialized at the other end of Tipsy Tose.

One was a tall and slender boy. He had pale skin and bony features. He wore a cheap white tank top splattered with grease stains. He had khakis that were cheaply cut, probably with a pair of scissors, that went halfway down his legs.

The next was another boy. He was short and pudgy, and wore a bright red baseball cap. He had on a leather jacket, despite the fact that it was summer. He wore brown skinny pants, and his shoes were leather and ripped.

The next was a slender girl. She had black hair that covered half of her face. She was also wearing a very revealing outfit, but so did most of Shibuya. A shortly cut aqua tank top, and white short shorts. She had high heels on, but it didn't look like she was effected by them.

The three were giving me nasty glares.

The last boy was thin and about my height. I realized where he was from. He was the one looking at me earlier. He wore a dull blue dress shirt that was buttoned down and regular denim jeans and sneakers. He wasn't even looking at me, and seemed rather uninterested in fighting me.

Something appeared from the bottom of my eye, and I looked down.

The plush toy appeared at my feet, standing up and ready to fight. I wondered where it went. It had disappeared sometime after I left the cafe, and I hadn't even noticed.

"Well, girl, why don't you hand us over that pin?" the slender boy asked. He had a rather raspy voice.

I stepped back and glared at them.

"Oh well, we tried Naizo," the pudgy boy responded with a jocose shrug.

"We don't have time for your banter!" the girl screeched. "There's only fifteen minutes left!"

"Alright, Kai, you're right," Naizo said in a teasing manner. "But we still don't know which one of them has the pin!"

They were teasing me. I clenched my teeth and took on a fighting stance that I didn't even know I knew.

The blonde haired boy looked at me with interest before taking out his phone.

"Oh well," the pudgey one responded. "We'll just have to kill them both!"

With that, Naizo, Kai, and the pudgy boy sped at me with their hands in their pockets. They didn't do anything, but I noticed something coming at me from over my head.

Realizing it was a car, I hastily jumped out of the way. I would've screamed, but no sound came from my throat. The second I landed back on my feet, I felt myself shoot into the air with an aching pain on my chin. I was able to crack an eye open and look below me. Naizo had used a pin to give me an uppercut.

I got over the pain in two seconds. I was still airborne. I used to opportunity to flip myself so that I was falling face down, and formed a fist with my right hand. I was speeding back at the ground with an extended fist. In response, the plush toy jumped up and copied my form. I earned some anxious looks from Naizo and Kai. The pudgy one was out of my sight.

I struggled and pulled out a random pin from my pocket. As I was about to hit the ground, I thought about what Katsu had told me. _"Put all of your energy into the pin, just as you had that doll."_

I closed my eyes and tried. I opened my eyes fiercely, and my hands had become giant graffiti styled bear arms, with oversize claws. I had a spectacular landing in front of Naizo and mindlessly swiped him repeatedly. From the corner of my eye, I saw the plush doll impaled Kai into the ground, followed by a dust cloud.

Naizo let out agonizing screams before he flew back into a brick wall.

That must have been the bear pin.

I felt a powerful shove from behind me, and I flew forward. I tried to stop myself by standing, but my feet only tipped me forward as I slammed face-first into the concrete ground and tumbled forward more.

If I was alive, my face would be mangled.

I let out little soundless moans and feebly tried to get up, but slumped back when I felt my flesh burning. I had a severe headache, and I felt volt of electricity pulsing through my every veins. I opened my eyes, and I was engulfed in large flames. I looked above me and saw a car coming to crash me again. A flame hit my eye and I closed them. I blindly struggled for another pin and held it up.

My body felt cool and refreshed, as I was pushed to the side. I looked down at my pin. It was one of the frog ones. The water gracefully engulfed the incoming car and extinguished the flames.

I didn't waste another second, and held up the pin again. Naizo and the pudgy boy were now engulfed in water bubbles, and it looked rather painful. They were screaming, but I heard nothing. Only my heart beating.

I did a low sweep with my foot and Kai was thrown in front of me. I looked to my right. The plush doll came out of an ally.

It was a mistake to look where she came from. Another car fell on me. An agonizing pain pulsed through my body, and I managed to climb out from under it. Only half of my body was sticking out.

I felt beyond exhausted, and could barely move. As I hyperventilated, I concentrated on the bear pin in my hand, and when my arms became giant claws, I pried the car off.

I quickly got over the pain. I turned around and ran towards Naizo and the pudgy boy, who were now free and tired from the water. They were choking from the lack of oxygen, which I didn't understand. We were dead, weren't we?

I mauled the air with my bear claws, and the plush toy came in front of me and grew large sharp claws on its paws. It went up to Naizo and the pudgy boy and copied my actions. The pudgy boy sped out of the way with an incredible inhumane speed, but Naizo couldn't escape. The plush toy repeatedly lacerated him with over dramatic clawing. He screamed and turned into static.

"NAIZO!" I heard two voices scream.

I was then startled when I fell to the ground.

"Good job, Kiru!" I heard Kai congratulate.

I looked up from the ground. My eyes widened as he sped into me again, and I was forcefully pushed back onto the ground, my face going agape as the back of my head rattled against the ground.

I knew what to do this time, but my body was still in shock. I threw a weak punch into the air, and heard a muffled scream. The doll must have punched Kiru when I was on the ground. When I cracked open my eyes, I saw that there was something next to me.

Then, a shadow reflected on me, and I quickly rolled out of the way. Though the car missed me, its impact on the ground made me fly a few feet away. I landed, though barely, and looked behind me.

Naizo had left a pin behind.

I dove in and grabbed it. Without thinking, I put my energy into it, and I suddenly did an uppercut. Though I hit no one, the doll rushed up to Kai and did an uppercut, much more powerful than it usually was.

Suddenly, another shadow came on top of me, and I saw a montage of cars coming at me instead of just one. I pushed against the ground with my feet trying to back away, but only made it half way. My legs were underneath four cars.

The blow was so powerful that I barely felt it, but any attempt at trying to get out was futile and excruciating. I would've been screaming.

I tried to use the bear pin again, and started side jabbing the car. A sharp pain jostled my arm. To my alarm, my hand didn't turn into a claw. I clenched my eyes tightly and cradled my troubled arm.

Then I remembered Katsu's words. _"Pins need to recharge."_

I inwardly cursed at my self many times, in so much pain that I couldn't think straight. I was on fire again.

I desperately tried to grab for my last pin in my pocket, but a chain shot through the car and impaled me. I coughed ferociously, and I was surprised that there was no blood. I was now sitting up, leaning on the chain.

I lamely grabbed for my last pin, and looked down at it, despite the overwhelming paroxysm in response to moving. It was the pin made of gold.

The fire increased.

_'DAMN IT!'_

I put all of my energy into it. The ground shook and the chain and fire disappeared. I was scared at first, but the earthquake didn't effect me. The cars shook off of me, luckily not in my direction, and I went into a pose as if I was throwing up. I went into a soundless coughing fit.

It was then relevant that there were two people screaming behind me, then one. The boy's voice was gone. Kai and the mysterious boy were left.

I suddenly regained my energy. I ran around the car and then towards Kai to catch speed. I kicked the air, and the plush toy gave her a great kick to the jaw. She was flung a few feet and stumbled on the ground. To my left, I saw two pins. I lunged for them. I concentrated my energy on one of the new pins, and suddenly I ran at an impossible speed.

I ran through the unrecovered Kai, and she stumbled back again. I then turned around and leapt for her airborne body. I did an uppercut using Naizo's pin, and the toy appeared next to me and did the girl let out a blood curdling scream, and then flickered into static. She was holding a pin, which fell as soon as the static disappeared. I snatched it.

I landed on the ground in a flamboyant way, crouching with one leg stretched out and one fist on the ground. The plush toy landed the same way.

I didn't move, and instead tried to concentrate on the environment around me. That last boy was there, but I hadn't seen him since we first appeared here.

"It appears we've lost, hee-hee."

I turned my back in a flash. No one was there.

"Don't worry, you're much too powerful for me."

I fixed my back. The boy was standing there with an annoying grin. I fixated myself. This only seemed to interest him.

"Look at your hand," he urged.

I cautiously did so, but I didn't tilt my head and only looked at it by turning my eyes.

_'2 minutes...'_

"Why don't we talk?"

I shot my head back up.

"What's with that crass look on your face? You've won."

I relaxed, but only slightly.

"I'm rather impressed," he declared. "You had the tougher of the opponents."

I felt my face ease a bit and let my guard down. From the corner of my eye, I saw the cat disappear. I didn't dare turn my head though.

The boy had an enlightened look on his face. "Hype..." he thought to himself. "I quite like that, hee-hee" he teased, losing all seriousness. Then he disappeared, and I felt myself lift into the air.

* * *

I landed, and all of the people around Shibuya reappeared.

The scorched and drenched parts of the ground disappeared, as did all of the cars.

I looked down at all the pins in my hands, before pocketing them.

Katsu came a second later. From his disheveled clothing, I could tell he had trouble of his own.

Just to make sure, I lifted my hand and looked at it. No timer.

"It was a good thing... That we had this," Katsu said. He wasn't looking at me, rather a pin in his hand. It was green and bubbly and had a soda can on it. "One of them dropped it when they were erased."

I cringed at the word "erased," but it went unnoticed to him.

"I think you did all of the finishing blows... Good job."

I could only look at him. I was still appalled at what had happened.

"That last guy... Was rather odd."

I stiffened.

"We were fighting but the time ran out..."

I relaxed. _'__So we weren't fighting the same person.'_

* * *

**WEEK 1, DAY 6 : END**

* * *

So I rewrote this chapter and chapter 1. Chapter 1 didn't have many changes, but this chapter was pretty much re-written.

If you're wondering why the chapters end so abruptly, it's because they're put to sleep.

I'll be happy to answer any questions whatsoever, but I'm not sure how many of you are actually reading this, LOL.

I still don't think this chapter was too great, so backed criticism would be well appreciated.

The reason why Chapter 1 is so short is because Hype woke up pretty late. As you saw, the mission was completed by the time she was able to help Katsu.

Thanks CycloneJet and AmuletMisty for following and liking my story.


	3. Week 1, Day 7

_**Author's Note**_ : To anyone who was reading this story from the start, I have re-written the first two chapters. While chapter one doesn't have many changes (if you read it already, there's no need to reread it), chapter two is completely changed. I updated it a while ago, so I wouldn't know whether you need to reread it or not.

* * *

**WEEK 1, DAY 7**

* * *

I yawned and stretched my arms. I cracked my eyes open to see that I was in fact sitting up straight. This surprised me a little, but I didn't bother to question it. I then realized that the sky was almost pitch black.

_What time is it..?_

I groggily took out my cell phone.

_3:14... What?!_

That surprise shocked me enough to make me bolt up, but only for a second. A wave of fatigue overtook me, and I felt my eyelids gradually closing. I leaned against the brick wall for support.

I started to feel dizzy, and held my head with one of my hands. The dizziness was followed by my eyes focusing and unfocusing, making me dizzier in a different way.

I saw an ominous blue light coming from around the building I was behind.

_Was the mission this early..? _I checked my phone again, squinting when the bright cellphone light infiltrated my eyes. _No..._ _Nothing._ I looked around._ Even Katsu isn't awake yet..._

I hobbled around the corner and almost tripped, just barely catching myself. I looked up and saw a few cases of stairs with railings covered with paper.

_Udagawa..._

I let myself slump to the floor. I wasn't in pain, rather just immensely tired. Confused...

My eyes started to close, and I started blinking less and out of sync. I started breathing heavier, slower. The world felt like it was tilting.

I crawled for the closest railing. I feebly grabbed it and pulled myself up, using my weight to prop myself up.

I looked back at where the blue light was coming from. It seemed to be dimming and brightening, but that could have easily been my mind playing tricks on me. I thought I saw someone standing in the center.

My eyelids got heavier.

I slowly made my way up the stairs, relying completely on the railings. _'How was it that I was this weak?'_

The world was spinning, but I made my way to my goal. The cold feeling of occasional uncovered metal was a warm welcome. The closer I got to my destination, the more tired I got. I started hearing thumping in my head. I crouched down and let my head hang to try and erode my weariness.

"Hahaha..!"

My head shot up, with a regretful result. A soreness resulting from my movement made me fall back. I let go of the railing. I quickly put my hands behind me. That saved my head from impacting the concrete ground, but with a price. My hands felt like they were on fire.

The more pain I felt, the more I wanted to sleep.

The silhouetted figure from the middle of the beaming light took notice to me. I couldn't see his face, but just by his body language, I could tell he knew of my presence.

My eyes closed. It took a good five seconds to open them again. I felt weaker. My arms gave away, letting the ground greet my back with a small "thud."

"It worked!"

I could only stare straight ahead at the sky. My eyes were now completely unfocused. I felt vulnerable, confused... My breathing became slower and more desperate, slowly succumbing to my fierce drowsiness.

"Huh?"

The figure approached me. My left eye blinked, slowly, followed by my right. I tried to sit up, but I couldn't move.

"No... Not strong enough!" the raspy voice scolded himself.

_I wasn't strong enough... For what?_

"What a waste," the voice huffed.

_"..?"_

He was now looking down at me, standing on the same step that I fell down. I don't know what my face looked like. I probably looked dead, if it weren't for the slow rising and falling of my chest. My eyesight was still blurred, and I couldn't make out his face. I thought I saw his hand reach somewhere. When he was done moving it, something dropped on me. It sent a tingling sensation to my body.

I finally gave into my overpowering lethargy, and didn't bother trying to get up. I closed my eyes, and a welcoming feel of relief came to me.

"Not enough power! DAMN IT!" he smashed the railling forcefully.

My eyes slowly cracked open, slower than I had hoped.

"This won't work... I'm wasting this... Oh well. Listen, you damned hecto-" His voice was demanding, but fading.

_"Hecto... ... What..?"_

I couldn't give any sign that I was listening, as much as I tried. I blacked out.

* * *

I felt a pang in my head.

"Hype..."

_Huh..? What's that..?_

"Wake up, Hype."

_No... I'm tired..._

_..._

_OW!_

I bolted up as if I had just experienced a nightmare. I looked left and right. I was at the Scramble Crossing. I heard snickering behind me. I turned my back to look.

Katsu was there, looking down at me. Surprisingly, there was a playful smirk on his face. "I told you to wake up," he said apathetically and held up a pin.

I put on an unamused face. He had hit me with boulders. I would've scoffed at him, if I could. _Wait a second... But can't you only use pins in battle..?_

"Thank you for the permission," I heard Katsu say.

I looked in his direction, and saw that he was talking to a reaper in a red hoodie, who nodded in response before disappearing.

"You've been out for two whole hours."

I raised my eyebrow. _'__What did he mean? Don't we wake up at around the same time?'_

"You were unconscious on the ground here," Katsu explained. "I waited for a while, thinking you woke up already, but..." Katsu shrugged.

_Now that I think about it... Wasn't I already awake? In Udagawa? _I remembered waking up fairly early in the morning with extreme lassitude before blacking out. _But... I'm in the Scramble Crossing. So was it just a dream?_

I remembered something falling on me during that odd event. I promptly started to feel myself, searching for anything unusual. This earned a strange look from Katsu.

"Yes, you're here," he confirmed unsurely. "Though I too find it quite strange that your body was here while you were sleeping."

_Aha! _I pulled out a foreign object from my pocket. It was a piece of metal, but it had a strange feeling to it.

"Huh? What's that? A bullet?" Katsu was also curious.

I shrugged and pocketed it. After today, I'd do some investigating. But right now it's not important. Today was Day 7, the last day of the game.

"Anyway, that reaper was from that wall over there," Katsu said, dropping the topic and pointing at the area to left. I remembered that it was blocked yesterday, with no way to clear it. "Thankfully, to clear it, I just needed to buy him something," Katsu explained. "I played him in tin pin and won. He agreed to my favor of using a pin out of battle."

_So that's how..._ I inwardly rolled my eyes.

"He was incredibly easy though," Katsu said, raising an eyebrow to himself. "Also in our favor, the mission mail hasn't been sent yet," Katsu continued.

_That's some good news._ Assuming we had some time, I looked around for something to do. I was curious of Shibuya; I hadn't been able to explore it much, and the left direction was blocked yesterday. After a step, I noticed something gold and shiny. It caught my eye, and I approached it more, despite being a far distance from it.

"Huh? Where are you going?" Katsu asked curiously.

I ignored him, with no intention to be rude, and kept walking. A few seconds later, I heard Katsu following me. We arrived at a statue of a golden dog, sitting humbly in front of a train station.

"That's the Statue of Hachiko," Katsu informed, catching up to me. I looked back at him for a second, and back at the statue. It was alluring. "Do you know the story?"

I shook my head.

"Hachiko was a dog, obviously. A puppy at the time. He was abandoned, some say. A professor found him and took him in," Katsu explained. "However, after a mere year, the professor had a heart attack."

I nodded slowly.

"Every day, the dog was with the professor; he'd walk with him to and from work... Well, the train station of course." Katsu paused. "When the professor died, Hachiko waited here, until his very death, at this spot for his owner that would never come."

This story was starting to depress me a little, but another feeling as well. _Some form of appreciation, I guess..._ I felt another stirring feeling.

"There's a theory Hachiko just waited here for the free food by passerbyers, but," Katsu hesitated, then "hmphed."

I sent him a curious glare. He looked as if he was contemplating something.

"Either way, this statue was built in his honor, for his loyalty," Katsu continued.

I nodded, and looked back at the statue. It seemed as if it illuminated the area around it. I was taken with it. I don't know why, but it just felt so... _familiar._

"I was thinking," Katsu started uncertainly, "that once the game is over..."

I spun around to look at him.

He seemed to struggle with his words. "Why don't we meet up?" he finally asked. He didn't seem embarrassed. I concluded that he just felt unskilled in making friends.

Considering the fact that he seemed reserved but invited me anyway surprised me. I nodded, but I wasn't sure how my face looked.

"Alright then... I'm quite interested in what your entry fee is. And once you have your memory and voice back, I'm sure you have a lot of things to talk about. It'll probably be refreshing to hear more than my babbling."

I slipped a faint smile.

Katsu ruminated on something for a moment. "Why not here? The Statue of Hachiko. It seems fitting, after all."

For some reason, this suggestion made me ecstatic. I shot him a smile and nodded. Maybe because it was the thought of having a friend, being without memory and all, but I was sure I had _some_ friends. Not that I could remember, but I'm assuming. The thought of Hachiko just felt nostalgic. Perhaps it connected with my past.

Our moment was interrupted by our cellphones ringing. We concurrently took out our phones.

_"Defeat the noise and find the Game Master._

_You have until the end of the day._

_Fail, and face erasure._

_-The Reapers"_

"Simple enough," Katsu declared. "All the missions prior had a riddle of some sort. But..." Katsu looked up at the sky, as if it would give a hint. "Where do we start?"

I shrugged, and walked over a little. I noticed a wall to our left.

"Peculiar, isn't it?" Katsu intruded. "There's a bus terminal over there, but this place has been blocked all week. Maybe Shibuya ends here, in reaper terms." Katsu took out his phone. "It's 12:37, so we have roughly half a day to finish the mission."

_12:37, huh... _

"It's a lot of time, but let's not waste it."

I nodded in agreement.

"Anyway, let's see if I can get something from around here." Katsu equipped his player pin and closed his eyes. After a moment, he looked back at me. "Nothing, but oddly enough, there are no noise... Maybe they were all defeated yesterday?"

_No noise, huh? Thinking about it... Were there even any yesterday?_

"For now, we can just see what areas are blocked off. If my hunch is correct, any place with a barrier reaper will be our way." Katsu started walking in the other direction heading back towards the Scramble Crossing. "The Game Master is probably the easier way out anyway."

I shrugged and started following him.

* * *

"Objective met. Wall clear!" a reaper established. He held his hand up, and with that, the invisible wall disappeared, followed by him shortly.

"Hm... What would a Game Master have to do in CAT Street?" He turned back to look at me, as if expecting an answer.

I shrugged.

"Well, I still think we should check it out. Are you okay with that?"

I nodded, and walked ahead of him. I thought I heard him give out a faint growl, but I must have imagined it. The walk to the Cafe was short, but seemed like it dragged on. We were both silent, or more precisely, he was.

Before we even set foot in the Cafe, Hanekoma came out. He spoke before Katsu did.

"Oh, hey you guys! What brings you two 'round here?" He put on his trademark smug look.

"Hype and I were doing a mission," Katsu explained.

Hanekoma seemed interested that my "name" had been revealed. "Hype, huh?" he looked at me with an expression of joy and disenchant. I erected my head in confusion, but the notions went unnoticed by Katsu.

"It's a placeholder," Katsu interjected. Not wanting to go off topic again, Katsu made sure to speak before Hanekoma did. "Do you think the Game Master could be anywhere around here?"

"The game master, hm?" Hanekoma pondered on the idea . "No, not here. At least, of what I've seen."

"Aha..."

"It would help to look, though," he threw in. "Anyway, I gotta jet."

"Huh? Leaving already?"

"Yup. Got some business to take care of," Hanekoma explained. He walked away before Katsu could ask him anymore questions.

"Huh... Looks like it's a dead end, Hype," Katsu concluded.

However, I was quite suspicious of the area. There was a feel around it. I cautiously peered left and right. This might have looked rather odd.

Katsu gave me another dazed expression. "Do you see anything for the mission?"

I hesitated before shaking my head. I felt as if someone had his or her eye on us.

"Alright... I believe I was another wall headed towards Molco."

Thinking I was just being paranoid, I agreed, and we backtracked.

* * *

"Not here either!" Katsu exclaimed, clearly frustrated.

We were at Spain Hill. After CAT Street proved to be unrelated to the mission, we had decided to go to Molco. After about an hour searching for clues, we had found nothing.

_'We still have a lot of time,' _I wanted to say. It was only 5:14.

"While we're here, we might as well buy some food... I'm getting quite peckish."

It was clear to me that he wasn't actually hungry, and just wanted to settle down and try to figure out a plan. Since I couldn't think of anything better, I agreed. We went into a fast food place, which was surprisingly near empty.

"So... Do you want anything?" Katsu asked.

I shook my head no.

"Alright then... I'll be right back," he said as he walked to the cashier.

The cashier seemed downbeat, as he was sighing and leaning on the counter with an elbow. As I looked at him, I felt pretty down myself.

"Just a crepe, thanks," Katsu requested.

"Yeah, sure man..." the cashier replied as he typed things into the cash register.

"Is there something wrong?" Katsu asked, with a tone of disinterest in his voice.

The cashier sighed. "No, no... It's nothing. Your crepe will be out in a second..."

Katsu looked unsure before muttering a "thanks" and walking back to me. "Do you feel it?" Katsu asked in a low voice.

_'What?' _I looked at him curiously.

"The negativity around him," Katsu explained.

I nodded.

Katsu seemed unconvinced, but chose to ignore it. "But it's different... There's something about it."

I pointed to the player pin that was on his shirt.

"What? Scan him?"

I nodded.

He seemed to ponder it. "Well, I suppose there's no harm in doing so..." Katsu closed his eyes and held the pin in his enclosed palm. A few seconds later, he stepped back in astonishment. His face revealed his shock at something.

I gave him a concerned look.

"Hype... The noise..!" Katsu responded. He hastily looked back at the melancholic cashier. "They're surrounding him!"

I felt my face form into an expression of astonishment and skepticism. _'Noise around him..? Wouldn't I see them after he scanned it?'_

"No, it's true!" Katsu enforced. "They're different though... They're swarming around him and aren't even paying attention to my presence..."

It wasn't that I didn't believe him, but he had told me that all of the noise appear in sight once the area was scanned, and I saw nothing.

"They're orange instead of red," he continued. "I'm going to emerge us into battle. Are you ready?"

I shrugged.

* * *

To my surprise, there actually were noise. Katsu and the cashier disappeared, and the already deserted fast food restaurant seemed more isolated than it was earlier. Not a second too late, the cat doll appeared, followed by three kangaroo noise.

Two of the Kangaroos bounced in place, while one jumped up at an incredible height. The ceiling must have been taller than I thought. Before it smashed down at me, I grabbed a random pin from my pocket and hastily activated it. I did an uppercut, hurtling it backwards. The two then followed in suit, jumping up simultaneously. I dodged out of the way, and then faced them, giving the air a few quick jabs. The plush toy followed my commands.

I had forgotten about the third, as it kicked me in the back of the head with both of its feet. I hurtled a few feet scraping against the floor, but finally being used to a fighting environment, I bounced back up and took out another random pin. I activated it, and fire materialized below all three of the kangaroos. It seemed to hurt, but they made no sound.

As I predicted the power of the pin was about the run out, I ran towards the closest kangaroo to gain speed, and then dramatically kicked the air. The plush doll followed immediately, sending the Kangaroo flying left into the wall. I then hooked the air with my fists, which the plush doll interpreted as continuous uppercuts.

Suddenly, I sensed the kangaroo I hit to the left coming at me, and swiftly stepped back as its feet were about the impact my face. I swiped my fist in its direction and the cat doll flew to it, packing a powerful punch in its face.

I hastily took out another pin and fumbled with it in my palm before finally activating it. I outstretched my arm, and a metal ring materialized in the air next to me, and in a tenth of the second shot out in both directions, stabbing two of the kangaroos in the chest areas. Seeing that they were stuck, I seized the opportunity to use the fire pin again.

However, before I could, the kangaroo that wasn't stabbed by the chain had jumped on me, impaling me into the ground. I let out a soundless hiss, and jumped back up, only to trip on an overturned chair. I fell face first into the cold floor, inwardly cursing at myself. Another kangaroo jumped on me, but didn't jump off after, gluing my face and left arm to the ground. Using my free arm, I crudely fist pumped the air. While it wasn't a powerful hit, it was enough to shock the kangaroo off of me.

I wasted no time getting out another pin and concentrating on it. Large blotches of water appeared around me, engulfing all three kangaroos. One fizzed into static. I saw that as a sign that the fight was almost over.

Seeing an opportunity, I frisked through my small pocket looking for the bear pin. I found it, and took it out so quickly that I almost dropped it. I activated it immediately, and did two over-dramatic cross punches in thin air.

A second later, the cat doll jumped in front of me, and while in mid air, large and honed claws sprouted from its cotton arms, as it followed my commands. It cross punched one kangaroo, and then sprinted to the other to finish the job. Both turned into static, and with a blink of an eye, Katsu and the cashier reappeared.

* * *

"Anyway, here's your crepe! Sorry it took so long!" the cashier gleefully chimed.

Katsu took the crepe in one hand, and passed him the money in the other. "You seemed to have brightened up."

"Huh? Oh yeah. I guess I was just in a stump," the cashier shrugged to himself.

"Crepes make people happy, ostensibly."

The _c_ashier let out an abrupt "Ha!" before telling Katsu, "Come back any time!"

Katsu walked towards the exit and I caught up to him. As we opened the door, about a dozen people entered, making Katsu and I stand at the side while they came in.

"It seems that the strange noise _do _cause negativity," Katsu confirmed to himself while taking a timid bite of the crepe.

_'That explains the moody cashier and the sudden rush of people...'_

A few seconds later, the "crowd" finished spilling in, and we left the restaurant, hearing banter from other teenagers behind us.

"So, then there are noise to finish off," Katsu stated. "The thing is... How many? Until we're done."

I contemplated it. _'It seems like the negativity repels people, and from what Katsu said, the person they posses becomes negative. Therefore... All we have to do is peek in shops and look for unusual behavior.' _I opened my mouth to say this out loud, but of course nothing came out. I mutely sighed instead.

"It'll be tedious work, but..."

_'We have no other choice.' _I couldn't suggest anything, and therefore had to leave everything in the hands of Katsu. I could only hope that he figured out the pattern or had a theory of his own.

We walked down Spain Hill towards Tipsy Tose Hall. We passed by a couple of abandoned souvenir shops and run down garages, so I didn't see the need to point anything out. It was another awkward silence, and we walked at a slower pace than usual.

I took a look at my phone. _'6:01.' _I felt Katsu's eyes peeking at the digital clock on my phone. I let him see it for a second before putting it back in my pocket. Thinking about it, it was really a hassle to dig through my pocket during battles.

Katsu took a more generous bite of the crepe. "It's sweet," he claimed.

I nodded without looking at him. He probably felt as awkward as I did. Perhaps if I had a voice, we could solve this faster, or at least rid of the tense atmosphere.

"I was thinking we just check every shop and scan every person in it," Katsu explained.

I shrugged. It would take a lot longer than my idea, but it wasn't as if I could tell him about it.

* * *

I gave a finishing blow with the bear pin, crashing the grizzly bear into the ground. The plush toy followed in suit, making the noise fizz into static. I gave a sigh of relief. Fighting the noise was easy, but with so many battles one after another became quite tiring.

After I blinked, I found myself sitting on a bar stool at the front counter, greeted with the steam from freshly made ramen. I casually took up some noodles, blew on it, and ate it as if nothing just happened. The ramen was a lot better than I expected, and I even felt my face light up from the savory taste.

Without thinking, I took a larger mass of noodles and tried to stuff it into my mouth, but quickly spit it out as it burned the inside of my mouth, scorching enough to make me scream. As excess soup spilled out of my mouth and back into the bowl, I saw the chef look at me quite pleased and amused. I recollected myself and took a smaller spoon of noodles, blowing on it again as if nothing just happened.

Katsu continued his conversation with the chef, seemingly ignorant to the burning sensation in my mouth that I was dousing with water. "So you still really want to shut this place down? My friend over there seemed to like it," he said, keeping eye contact with the chef but pointing his thumb at me.

I stopped chewing for a second and shot Katsu a sideways glare.

"Hahahaha!" the chef gleefully roared. He looked at me with interest. "You two remind me of those two boys... Except you don't speak!"

"Two boys?" Katsu asked.

"Yeah," he sighed. "I was thinking about closing down around that time too. About two years ago?"

"What happened?" Katsu asked curiously.

He sighed again. "I was losing business to another ramen place a few shops down."

"Oh, that place? That was just a fad. It closed down a few weeks ago, didn't it?"

"Mhm," the chef confirmed with a satisfied smile. "But two boys convinced me otherwise. There was an astute one like you," he said. "Gave me the right words to keep going!"

"I see," Katsu mumbled.

"And then there's you! The silent one that can't get enough!"

I stopped chewing again and felt a blush spread across my face.

He laughed heartily again.

As embarrassing as this was, I kind of enjoyed the banter with this guy. He seemed pretty down earlier, but that was the noise. Just eating the ramen gave me a stirring feeling. Then I remembered our situation. I hastily took out my phone and looked at the time. _'10:32..!' _My eyes widened. I caught Katsu's attention by repeatedly tapping him, much to his dismay as my sudden touch made him choke on his food. I didn't give him time to question my actions, and practically stuck the phone in his face.

Katsu almost spewed out his food as he dropped his chopsticks in his soup. He took out all the yen in his pocket and laid it on the table. He jumped off of the bar stool while I took a few swigs at the remaining broth in my bowl.

"Thank you for the food!" Katsu remarked quickly and made a bolt for the door. I quickly followed.

"Wait! This is too much!" we heard the chef call after us.

"It was well worth it!" Katsu responded quickly as we ran out of the shop. We didn't give the chef time to respond. "Damn! What now?!" he exclaimed angrily once we were no longer in the shop.

Suddenly, our phones rang. Katsu pulled his out as if it was about to be stolen. I didn't bother to take out mine, only eagerly looking at Katsu.

"Find the Game Master and complete her challenge," he read out loud. "Where can the Game Master be?!"

Concluding from the message that we had defeated all of the noise, I thought about it in my head. There were only a few areas we haven't explored yet, one being A-East, which was right around the corner. I made a mad dash, and luckily, there was no wall. I heard Katsu following behind me.

I skidded to a halt once we appeared in front of the concert hall. It was either here or further on. I looked at Katsu, waiting for him to choose.

"Let's try here!" he declared when he caught up to me, and we both ran into the dark concert hall.

* * *

Our footsteps echoed through the empty concert hall unrhythmically. Our running wasn't in sync, but boomed through the empty building. Once the light from the outside reached its limit, we slowed down, but kept going due to momentum. The stage doors shut loudly behind us, causing Katsu and I to flinch our heads back. The place was now pitch black.

_'How cliched,'_ I thought as I mentally rolled my eyes.

"Now is this a trap or the real deal..?" Katsu asked himself.

I tried adjusting my eyes to the pitch black scenery by continuously blinking, but they wouldn't focus.

"Welcome, players!" a high pitch voice echoed. "It's totally awesome that you made it this far! It's, like, way rare!"

"Where are you?! Show yourself!" Katsu screamed in the darkness.

_'Yeah... Let's just get this over with!'_

"Hehehehe...!" she tried to cackle darkly, but it came out as a giggle. Two claps echoed in the darkness.

On cue, two stage lights revealed a little girl standing on the catwalk above, crossing her arms smugly and looking down at us with a sinister expression. The sudden brightness caused Katsu and I to shield our eyes with our arms for a second, before gradually putting them down.

She had her hair parted in different colors, blond and purple. Her playful blue eyes didn't fit the villainous role she was trying to portray. Also rejecting the idea of her being a fearful adversary, she was wearing a hot pink hoodie with bear ears. From what I could see, she also wore a light blue bow resting lazily below her neck, a frilly azure skirt, and sea-foam green and lavender horizontally striped socks that went up to her mid-thigh.

_'The Game Master... Is a kid?' _I felt my face go into bewilderment.

"It's you... You're that reaper!" Katsu accused.

The game master smiled sweetly and nodded.

"You're the game master?!" he asked, confounded.

"Yes, and _you're_, like, still alive," she sneered.

Katsu stepped back and clenched his teeth, letting the darkness consume the lower half of his body, whilst I was completely engulfed.

"What do you mean by that?!" he demanded.

"I was totally sure that I erased your partner with my noise," the game master told him nonchalantly. "But apparently, I was, like, way wrong, because here you are! Standing here!" she stated gleefully with an innocent smile.

_'How ironic...'_

"Wait a second..." Katsu muttered, almost inaudibly. "You _tried _to kill us?! I was right!"

"Well, you if you mean, like, erase, then... Yeah, totally!"

"You... You bi-"

"Ah ah ah~" she said, shifting her pointer finger right and left. "That's what you get for, like, mocking me!" she said, slightly more aggressively.

"B-But it was banter!" Katsu raged.

"Oh yeah? Because of you, none of the reapers, like, take me seriously!" she whined while stomping her foot.

"That has nothing to do with Yuudai! You're just an immature brat!"

"_Brat?!_" the game master screeched. Her face turned red, and I could just imagine steam coming out of her ears. "I AM NOT THE BRAT! YOU'RE WAY MORE OF A BRAT THAN I AM!"

"ALL WE DID WAS HAVE A FRIENDLY BET AND YO-"

"ENOUGH!" she shrieked. "I'm totally going to get you back for this! Especially your partner since he, like, survived!" she claimed, pointing a finger in my direction.

_'Does this mean she can see me?' _I wondered. _'For a little kid, she's keen.'_

_"_I AM _NOT_ A LITTLE KID!" she squealed, waving a fist in the air.

_'She can read my mind?!' _I wondered. This was astonishing.

"I DIDN'T _SAY _ANYTHING YOU-"

"YEAH, I CAN TOTALLY READ YOUR MIND!" she answered. "AND I TOTALLY HEARD YOU EARLIER! _WAY _UNCOOL!"

I let out a soundless gasp.

She pouted sinisterly. "I TOTALLY PRETENDED NOT TO HEAR YOU, BUT YOU, LIKE, SAID IT AGAIN! _SO_ UNCALLED FOR!" she cried.

I fidgeted. Katsu shifted as well.

"Buuut, despite you being the one to, like, ruin _everything_ for me... You were, like, way quiet this time," she pondered to herself.

Before either of us could retort, my vision faded to white.

* * *

_'...'_

_'Nothing happened..?'_

"On the contrary," the Game Master's voice echoed.

'_What?'_

I then realized that it wasn't just the lights that went out. Katsu was no longer next to me. This meant that we were in the noise plane. I pulled out random pins from my pocket and concentrated on all of them, looking for the fire pin. When nothing came out, I jostled them into my other hand, pulling out the rest, and tried again. Luckily, fire materialized.

The cat doll was dutifully bouncing in place next to me, waiting for noise to appear.

"You, like, have the easier challenge!" the reaper's voice rang. "I have something to settle with your partner, so, like, you'll just have to survive some waves of noise."

_'You're fighting him one on one?'_

"Mhm!"

_'Only him?'_

No response.

About five crabs and three kangaroos materialized, just as my flame burned out.

_'Damn it..!' _I inwardly cursed as I felt myself fly a few feet before skidding on the ground. I had dropped about half of my pins. _'So I have to fight in the dark...' _I thought ruefully. _'Random punches and kicks won't help me much.'_

Then I remembered the pin that let me do an uppercut. Whenever I did it, my fist went ablaze. I tried doing one, but to my dismay, my hand didn't light up. _'Damn!'_ I thought briefly before my face was hit, making me fly back into the wall.

I slumped to the floor, and noticed I had dropped the rest of my pins. I gritted my teeth in anger. I feebly grabbed the one closest to me and immediately heard a metal clang, followed by odd sounds, which were probably the noise screeching in pain.

_'Not it..!' _I cursed, despite not even knowing what I was looking for. The chains would hold them for a second, but...

I was shoved back again, straight into a wall. Luckily, it was close enough to my other blow that I noticed something shiny on the floor. I picked it up in panic. Without thinking, I activated it. I ran up the wall in an incredible speed. _'What?! No!' _I scolded myself. However, I quickly lost momentum and fell. Before I could react, I had already hit the ground again. However, I didn't feel hurt in any way.

_'Or...'_ I thought. I stomped on the floor to be sure and heard hollow metal. _The cat walk! Now i__f only I had pins...' _I slammed my fist down on the railing in frustration and heard a screech. _'So I'm not up here alone..!' _The cat doll had apparently followed me up here and hit a noise that was close to me.

I felt something approaching and swung my arm back in retaliation. Although I couldn't see it, I could tell that the cat doll had hit it, due to the piercing screech. I did a few more punches in thin air at its direction until I heard the screeching finish, assuming that the noise had been erased.

A few seconds later, I heard some chattering. _'There's more than one..!' _I thought nervously, as I was shoved to the ground. The cat walk swung gently from the impact. I could tell from the shape indenting itself in my stomach that it was the foot of the kangaroo. _'So they can come up here too,' _I thought bitterly, as I gave the air an uppercut. I heard the impact of the plush toy's paws and the kangaroo, and heard a few metal sounds, followed by a distant "thud." _'At least I hit him off... It'll buy some time.'_

My thoughts were too naive, as I felt painful fluttering pounding at my face while a chorus of chattering pierced my ears. _'Birds..?' _I wondered as I backed up into the a railing, just managing not to fall backwards. I suddenly felt something bite into my neck as I tried to swat away the flock. The presence of its fangs penetrating my skin sent pulses of pain throughout my body. _'No... Bats..!'_

I closed my eyes, convinced that they were trying to claw my eyes out. It wouldn't matter if they were closed anyway; I couldn't see anything. I jabbed the air blindly, my ear pounding every time I heard a screech.

Then I remembered the pin in my hand and inwardly slapped myself at not thinking of the idea. I ran through the bats using the power of the pin, hearing some fizz away. There were still more, but before I could turn around and run through them again, one of the stage lights turned on.

It caught me by surprise, and I almost fell over the cat walk railing again. I looked down eagerly, only to be shocked. When I first entered battle, there were only about ten noise down there. Now, it was flooded by dozens. Kangaroos, crabs, and penguins everywhere. Luckily, I was able to make out a few of my pins.

Remembering the bats, I looked to my left, only to be too late; They flew straight into my face, flipping me off of the Cat Walk.

I let out a mute scream while I felt my eyes widen. I hit the ground with a dreadful blow into the ground and bit my tongue. Pain vibrated through me. So painful that it hurt even to blink. I tried to get up, but couldn't. The heads of several kangaroos looking down at me entered my vision, and they all simultaneously jumped up at once. Remembering pins were near me, I turned my head with painful results, but was rewarded with seeing the frog pin there.

I feebly reached for it, trying to grab it before the kangaroos hurtled their feet onto my body. I put all of my energy into it, and instead of a myriad of water blotches, there was one big one that engulfed me. My pain was suddenly at ease. I was still weakened, but it didn't hurt to move anymore.

The water must have spread at least a dozen feet tall and wide. The kangaroos that were above me were now falling at a lagging pace and were wincing with pain. When I crouched to stand up, it didn't take much effort; the water carried me into a standing position. When I looked around me, I saw that I was encircled by several penguins that were about to slide into me. However, they too were engulfed by the water.

I looked down gratefully at the frog pin. _'What a lucky break... This would have killed us.'_

I instantly shook my head, remembering that hesitating would kill me, and used the chain pin to impale all of the kangaroos above me. I figured out that if I concentrated on it twice, two chains would appear in any direction I wanted it to go. I crossed them, making all of the kangaroos let out a muffled cry, before all of them dissolved into static.

I chose to ignore the penguins and tried to run out of the circle, only to be slowed by the water that was engulfing me. I put all of my energy into the pin that made me fast, and sped out of the bubble, even crashing into one of the penguin noise.

I smiled triumphantly, only to be put down by a blade slicing my face. _'The crabs..!' _I flinched backwards and stumbled back into the water bubble. It was slowly laying me backwards, and I attempted to bend back upwards, but the water suddenly dissolved, and I crashed my head into the hard floor.

I would have let out a blood-curdling scream if I could.

I shut my eyes closed and brought my hands up to my forehead. I felt penguins drilling their beaks into my skin and claws at my feet. The dizziness wouldn't stop... _'This is the end of us... I'm sorry, Katsu...'_

Although it was seconds, it felt like hours; I opened my eyes and my vision was blurred with a pounding headache. I felt my mouth slowly open and my eyes were only half open. _'Am I thirsty..? Am I tired? Ah... It's hot...'_

I suddenly felt a burst of energy. My eyes dilated, and as if on instinct, I jumped up and ran through all of the noise that were surrounding me. When I looked back, I saw that none of them were erased and were only struck. _'Damn... Wait... What just happened?'_

I shook my head vigorously, not wanting to waste time again. I noticed something gleaming from the corner of my eye. I picked it up quickly and put all of my energy in it.

Large stones materialized and crashed down into all of the noise within my sight, shaking the ground violently upon impact. _'The boulder pin..!'_

One by one the penguin and crab noise disappeared until there were only a few of each left. I punched the air a couple of times to finish them off with the plush toy. After four more noise were erased, the boulders stopped and the few remaining noise slumped to the ground and strained to get back up.

I readied myself to finish them off, but the light turned off again, consuming the concert hall into darkness again.

_'Damn it..!' _I shrilled in my mind. _'Think fast..! How did I get them on before?! The bats?!'_

Without thinking about it anymore, I used the speed pin to run up the wall behind me. When I lost momentum, I fell again, but not on the cat walk.

I fell to the floor with a horrendous thud. I felt an endless blast of air escape my through. It wasn't as bad as when I hit my head, but this came as more of a shock. I trembled while I sat up, wincing a little. I concentrated on the boulder pin, but nothing came.

My eyes widened in shock. I shifted my fingers in a fist, mentally counting the objects in my hand. _'I dropped some pins..!' _I punched the wall in anger, only to feel a pang quiver through my fist to my shoulder blade. I didn't even care anymore. I was frustrated. _'This is odd... Do I usually get this angry?'_

This was all too overwhelming. I was close to going into a paroxysm just from the stress alone. I was lucky enough that no noise had hit me yet, and sighed before concentrating my energy into one of the pins I had left.

I heard metal clangs go into the direction I was facing, but I didn't hear it impale any noise. _'Damn... A miss.'_

I quickly sidestepped just to be sure I wasn't hit. When I heard a soft thud to my right, I knew it was the right move. Immediately, I hooked a fist in its direction and heard the cat doll impale whatever noise was next to me. I concentrated on the speed pin and ran in its direction and felt myself hit three different noise. Seeing an opportunity, I turned around and quickly concentrated on the chain pin and directed it in the direction that I just ran from.

I heard a chorus of screeches, to which I took as impaling the noise. _'Wait... That's it!_ Without missing a beat, I directed the chain pin to stretch another chain vertically and smirked with satisfaction as I heard it impact something metal... Seemingly hollow. _'So that's where the cat walk is!'_

I concentrated on the speed pin and ran up the wall again with all of my strength. When I lost momentum, I felt a little more confident this time and gently skipped to my right. My leg brushed over the railing and I desperately grabbed out to it, mutely gasping when I realized I almost missed it.

Because I was running in the other direction and abruptly changed it when I grabbed for the railing, I swung right into the cat walk with the ledge impacting my stomach. The wind knocked out of me and I slightly let my grip go, but I quickly recovered and pulled myself over the railing.

I coughed a little and looked around me, trying to see if my eyes adapted to the darkness at all.

_'Now where are those bats..?'_

I stood up and cautiously shifted my eyes left and right. Deciding that being idle and waiting for action to happen wouldn't work, I used my chain pin in three different directions before it was depleted of energy. Hearing some soft cries to my left, I wasted now time jabbing the air in its direction. I heard louder cries in return. _'Just a few more and the lights go on... I hope...'_

Eventually, the noise no longer cried out in pain. The silence was followed by a stage light turning on. There were no more bats on the cat walk. However, it was a different story when I looked down.

_'...SHIT!' _I thought, immensely bewildered. While I thought I had finished off half of the noise on the ground, there were more than last time. Grizzlies, penguins, crabs, porcupines... Luckily they didn't notice me, but they would eventually. I mentally cursed to myself and looked around for my pins.

I saw three of them, probably from when I first dropped them, sitting in the smack middle of the room. However, they were surrounded by some crab noise. _'I'll wait for the lights to go off and then I'll try and get them...' _I shook my head to myself. _'No, that wouldn't work... It would be a waste of time... But if I attack them now, all of their attention will be on me.'_

I came up with an idea, but was unsure of how it would work. I laid down on the cold metal cat walk, trying to make myself as least noticeable as possible. I held up the chain pin, and mentally directed them in three different directions.

I couldn't help but sigh with relief when I heard a myriad of noise screeching. I turned my head to look down at the ground floor. It was hard since the floor of the cat walk only had small holes to see through, but it was better than risking revealing myself.

I hit a number of grizzlies and most of the crabs guarding the three pins. I smiled in satisfaction.

Sparking an idea, I used my left arm to grab the railing next to me to secure myself. I concentrated on the crabs. Then, I jerked my other arm in the air to suffice as a punch. The cat doll, which was apparently next to me, jumped off of the cat walk and charged down at the crabs at an incredible speed. Instead of targeting one crab, the cat doll punched the floor, sending a wave that erased four crabs and stunned the rest.

I jerked my arm a few more times and watched the cat doll slap the surrounding crabs. It took a while for me to notice the other noise creeping up around it. My eyes widened in realization. _'Damn it..!'_ I wanted to slap myself for being so stupid.

The doll's attacks have attracted the other noise, and now they were starting to corner it. I hurriedly tried to think of an idea. They couldn't maul the cat doll; I was nearly defenseless as I was, and even if I got to the three pins, I'd still be missing about half of my other ones.

_'This better work...' _I thought angrily as I pulled myself up. This caught the attention of a few porcupines on the ground floor. I chose not to pay attention to them; they weren't my priority. I concentrated on the speed pin in my hand and ran a few feet down the cat walk. I looked down to see the plush toy only half-mimicking my actions; while it did match my speed, when it brushed against the noise in its way, it did no damage.

_'Good enough...'_ I thought to myself. As I thought of the next course of action, I heard faint whistling from above me. I saw a flash of needle-like projectiles heading in my direction. I stumbled backwards to dodge it; I had exceeded in avoiding the attack, but my actions brought bitter consequences.

The cat walk started swaying back and forth in a harsh fashion. It surprised me that I even fell over the railing. I managed to barely catch myself, extending my arm to the ledge of the cat walk.

_'Not good..!'_ I thought, panicking. Anxiety was starting to eat me alive. I looked down at the cat doll, and saw that it was managing itself on it's own, dodging all of the noises' attacks now that it wasn't surrounded. I switched my attention to the three pins I spotted earlier.

_'They're unguarded!' _I thought happily, only to grimace when I remembered why I was hanging onto a ledge for dear life. From the corner of my eye, I saw that a dozen or more porcupines were staring at me intensively.

_'They're going to attack... What should I do?!' _I couldn't move; although the cat walk wasn't rocking as hard as it was before, if I tried to pull myself up I'd surely fall. I didn't want to risk using my other arm to help myself up; it was holding my only two pins, and I didn't want to risk losing them. Then, there was the cat doll, but that would only ruin this opportunity; if I made it attack the porcupines, it would only bring the noises that were hunting it closer to the center where my pins were.

_'Perhaps... If I could just get to those pins!' _I could use the chain pin and make it go from my position to the pins, but how would I get down? I needed something to glide on or my hands would burn off.

I didn't have much more time; the noise were slowly advancing to the cat doll and were going to corner it sooner or later, and the porcupines would attack me even before that. _'Think, damn it!'_

_'Wait a second... Am I wearing headphones?__' _The fact that I hadn't even noticed the whole time just added to my frustration. _'Perhaps if I put it over the chain and held onto both of the speakers, I could glide down, but... What if it breaks and I drop?'_ The porcupines all lost their quills and regenerated them, meaning that they sent up the needle projectiles after me. _'No time to think!'_

I used the chain pin to make a chain that angled me towards the pins and quickly swung my headphones around it, grasping the speakers with my hands a second later. I jounced a little before gliding down and barely missing the incoming needles.

The light turned off.

The fact that I was speeding down at an incredible speed and not even being able to see where I was going was beyond horrifying. It didn't help that my hands were sweating and slowly slipping from the headphones that were holding me onto the chain. As I sped down, I felt a powerful wind resistance that threatened to blow me off of the chain and send me into the floor with a great blow.

Within seconds, I gracefully landed. I put my headphones back on. It took me a second to take all of this in. _'That actually worked?!'_

Wasting no time, I looked around me and thankfully saw a dim reflection. I almost jumped at it and picked it up and felt three small circular disks in my palm. _'The pins! Thank God!'_

I concentrated on a random one of them. Suddenly, I was encircled by a fire which dully illuminated the concert hall. I saw that even more noise had spawned. I started sweating, but whether it was from the fire or fear I couldn't tell.

However, my face brightened up when I saw something shiny in my hand. _'The golden pin!' _Without even needing to think, an earthquake started.

Most of the noise around me screeched and disappeared. When the earthquake was done, the few remaining noise sunk to the ground. The fire finished as well.

Despite my victory, I started feeling exhausted. My legs started trembling and my body just felt overall frail. I started hyperventilating. _'Katsu!' _I thought fearfully.

We were losing.

My legs gave in. With every huff of air, my grip on my pins became stronger. I wasn't going to give up.

"Well, you survived longer than I, like, thought you would!" a gleeful voice called out.

_'The Game Master...! Don't tell me...' _My heart sank. _'Katsu got erased...'_

"No, no, not yet at least," the reaper informed me.

I scowled.

"He, like, said a couple of things during our battle, and as you can see, it's way obvious who won. That cure pin totally ran out of uses."

_'So that's what helped me earlier!'_

"Uh-huh!"

I glowered at her peppy attitude._ 'Why are you in my plane then?'_

"I thought I could, totally, teach him a lesson about messin' with me before I totally wipe him from existence!" her voice rang out. "He lost one partner, and now he'll totally lose another!"

I growled. _'She wants to see him suffer.'_

The game master giggled. "Any last words?" she mocked before I heard her clap twice. I was now encircled by a ring of ominous blue fire.

I couldn't hide the fear that was on my face. I was sweating, and I'm sure my eyes were the widest they had been from the past three days. I tried to keep calm, but I could only stare at her with fear stricken eyes.

She had a darkly satisfied face that peered through the flames. I saw blood lust in her eyes.

I shut my eyes and waited for the worst to happen.

However, nothing did. "Omigod!" she cried. "It's you?!" she asked in surprise.

I opened an eye and saw an awe-stricken expression on her face.

* * *

The next second, Katsu was next to me, doubled over and panting heavily. However, I recovered my stamina as soon as we were back in the UG.

In front of us was the game master, looking worried, confused, and most of all, surprised.

"I totally should have known! But... But... It's, like, way early!" she spoke to herself.

"What are you talking about?!" Katsu intervened.

Remembering that she was in the presence of two players, the game master calmed down. "Not anything you'll, like, need to worry about." She gave me a sympathetic look, much to my confusion, but looked away before I could question it. She lifted up her hand, making Katsu put his guard up, but quickly relieved himself as he saw it was a single frog noise.

"What is-"

"My challenge," the game master confirmed. "Erase this frog noise and I'll totally pass you."

"What's the catch?!" Katsu demanded.

The game master turned around.

While this angered Katsu, I took action. I looked at the pins in my hand, first seeing the bear one. I put my energy into it, and mauled the frog.

"Congratulations," the game master's voice rang. "You won the game."

My vision turned to a blinding white, but the flash died down when I looked around me.

We seemed to be standing in an abyss of some sort. There were no walls, no floors. Everything was black, yet I could see the ashy shadows of the three of us. Perhaps we were in a room, and this was an illusion.

"Tell me _why_..!" Katsu demanded. "You were about to finish us off!"

The game master ignored him.

_'Why?' _I asked. _'You know me, don't you? From where?'_

She shot me a glance with an emotion I couldn't comprehend.

_'I don't remember anything... Please, tell me.' _I pleaded with my eyes.

She acknowledged it but ignored it. "You're totally, like, admitted to return to the living!" she announced. "Congratulations!" she added with a smile.

"B-"

"However..." she added solemnly.

Katsu settled back down.

"You," she said, pointing to me. "You aren't, like, in the game records."

_'...What?'_

"What do you mean?" pressed Katsu.

"She, like, wasn't here on the first day," the reaper explained. "So technically, she wasn't, like, playing the game legitimately." She shrugged nonchalantly.

"What?! That's not possible! I made a pact with her!"

"Yeah, you, like, totally did. Buut..." the game master explained. "Hmm... How should I put this?" she pondered to herself.

"QUIT SCREWING WITH US..!"

Katsu's outburst only seemed to amuse her, as she giggled. "She was playing _illegally_."

"..." Katsu was speechless. Either he didn't know what she meant or he was too surprised.

I for one didn't know what she meant.

"So the bear pin thing... You knew I was alive and tried to kill me, thinking I was with Yuudai!"

"Actually, no," the game master replied nonchalantly. "I totally thought you were dead! I just wanted my pin back, ya' know?" She then smiled widely.

I hesitated before taking out the bear pin and extending my hand to give it to her.

She looked at me with curiosity. "Oh, no, trust me... You're, like, totally going to need it." I thought I saw a hint of sadness in her eye despite her flamboyant attitude.

I raised an eyebrow.

"Why?" Katsu asked, piqued.

"If she wants to live again, she's totally going to have to play The Reaper's Game again!"

I felt my jaw drop. _'Again..? 3 days was enough!'_

"I know, I know," she said, trying to calm me as if she were my mother. "But you, like, have to!"

"WHY?!" Katsu was enraged, but probably for different reasons than I thought.

"I, like, told you already," she shrugged.

Seeing this was going no where, I turned to Katsu and nodded my head sternly.

He turned to look at me. His face was angry, but seeing me accept my fate, he sighed and nodded.

"Either way," she continued. "As a game master, I only have the power to resurrect one of you, so this works out well!"

"_Well..?_" Katsu muttered under his breath.

As if hearing him, the game master looked at him with a smile. "You see, there can be many winners in a game, but the game master can, like, only resurrect one player. With the Conductor, that number rises to three, and-"

"Where is this 'Conductor?'" Katsu interrupted.

The game master grimaced at being cut off. "He doesn't like to show, see?" she answered bitterly.

I heard Katsu let out groans of frustration. He was trying not to upset the reaper; he wanted answers, as did I.

"Aaaaand, then there's the composer! He can resurrect _everyone_!" she said gleefully, then looked at the ground with an expression of sadness, hidden behind a smile. "But he's doing something."

"Just _one _question!" Katsu demanded, finally sensing that aggression wouldn't get him anything. "If you thought I was dead, were you trying to get only one pair of players in the end?"

"Yup!" she answered with a smile. "You see, I totally have to find a way to live too, ya' know?"

Katsu sulked back.

"So, are you ready to live again?" she asked Katsu, but looked at me with a sympathetic face.

Katsu looked at me. "You know where to meet up, right?"

I nodded solemnly.

"I'll stop by every day. Don't you dare stand me up."

* * *

**WEEK 1, DAY 7 : END**

* * *

Sorry for the long wait (to any of you who actually read my story, LOL). I had actually planned to finish this earlier. However, at one point my laptop randomly shut down and I forgot to save my progress, so I lost a few scenes. Another time, it ran out of batteries. Another time, I lost internet connection, and let's just say I've had to re-write some parts more than once. That's why some parts seem rushed.

The game master was actually Koko/Coco Atarashi, the new reaper in Live Remix, if you couldn't tell by her physical description and speech pattern. She did make an appearance in Solo Remix, so that's why she has a valley girl speech pattern. She always seemed a little young to me, making me wonder how she became a reaper.

Anyway, I feel like I can't really write out fighting scenes that well. If anyone could give me some pointers, it would be well appreciated.

* * *

When I was re-writing Koko's reveal as a game master, I changed it a little. Originally, Katsu was supposed to mimic her behavior, but I found that too OOC.

Original Scene :

"Hehehe..." a high pitched giggle echoed.

"Don't tell me," Katsu muttered in an annoyed tone.

"Congratulations, players, on making it to Day 7. This doesn't, like, happen often," the high voice continued. This made me wonder how old this reaper truly was.

"Are you the Game Master?!" Katsu demanded.

"Why, indeed, _boy_."

I heard Katsu grunt a little, and could only picture him clenching his teeth.

"Then it's like hitting two birds with one stone," he said darkly.

I turned to the direction of his voice curiously and hoped that he'd sense my movement and answer my unspoken question.

Two claps echoed, and on cue, two stage lights revealed a little girl standing on the catwalk above, crossing her arms smugly and looking down at us with a sinister expression. The sudden brightness caused Katsu and I to shield out eyes with our arms for a second, before gradually putting them down.

She had her hair parted in different colors, blond and purple. Her playful blue eyes didn't fit the villainous role she was trying to portray. Also rejecting the idea of her being a fearful adversary, she was wearing a hot pink hoodie with bear ears. From what I could see, she also wore a light blue bow resting lazily below her neck, a frilly azure skirt, and sea green and lavender horizontally striped socks that went up to her mid-thigh.

_'The Game Master... Is a kid?' _I felt my face go into bewilderment.

I was still consumed in the darkness, but part of Katsu was now illuminated.

"YOU'RE KIDDING ME!" Katsu exclaimed. "_YOU'RE _THE GAME MASTER?!"

Examining his expression from the little light that caught his face, I saw a small vein popping. I assumed he was more in a state of annoyance, anger, and awe, than actual intimidation.

The girl furrowed her eyebrows and scowled. "IS THAT, LIKE, A PROBLEM?" she fussed.

"YEAH, IT'S A PROBLEM! WHO WOULD MAKE AN IMMATURE BRAT LIKE YOU A GAME MASTER?!"

"I AM NOT A BRAT!" she childishly exclaimed. "YOU'RE SO TOTALLY THE BRAT!" she ranted, dramatically pointing at Katsu. I could only imagine steam coming from out of her ears.

"WHAT? ME?!"

"YES! SO YOU!"

_'How... out of character,' _I thought awkwardly to myself as I watched Katsu argue on like a child. I had the impression that he was a quelled, mysterious, Einstein-type of a person, but here he was, screaming his heart out like a toddler. His body language only added to the oafishness of the situation.

I let the little girl and Katsu bicker on for a few more seconds, before deciding it was unnecessary.

I put a hand on Katsu's shoulder.

"WHAT HYPE?!" he exclaimed in the heat of the moment as he looked back at me with annoyance, before finally remembering why we were here. He looked away, before muttering "oh, right," and an apology. He regained his composure.

"Whaat~? Hype~?" the Game Master mocked darkly. "Is this, like, a new partner?"

Katsu hesitated, but stiffly nodded once.

"I guess your other one was just, like, waay~ too spineless to survive my wrath," she said mockingly while shooting him a smug glare. Despite her intentions to try and be intimidating, her appearance and voice wasn't helping. However, these words seemed to deeply affect Katsu.

Katsu stepped back in surprise, the darkness engulfing half of his face. "You... You killed him?!" he asked, almost inaudibly.

"'_Erased_' is the more proper term, but yes! I so did!" she replied gleefully, even giving a signature smile. It's ironic how innocent she looked.

Katsu balled his fists and gritted his teeth.

I felt my eyes widen a little. I didn't know his brother well, but I was there to witness the aftermath of his erasure. _'So a reaper actually went after them...'_

"You killer..!"

"For your information, I so don't like erasing players! It's, like, way uncool!" the reaper informed, even putting a finger up. "But you two, like, totally forced me to!"

"All he did... Was..!" Katsu tried retorting, but struggled with his words.

"YOU TWO MADE ME OUT TO BE, LIKE, THIS LITTLE KID! NOW NONE OF MY REAPER UNDERLINGS WILL, LIKE, RESPECT ME!" she screamed out angrily. "THEY'RE SOO OVER ME BEING GAME MASTER NOW!" she looked away and falsely cried into her hood, muttering "and now they don't like me!" I couldn't tell whether she was genuinely depressed or just being over dramatic for the fun of it.

I was astonished. _'She killed off a player for some teasing? That's way too extraordinary...' _I felt my face form into some form of anger. I didn't see this as a fit way to kill a person. Katsu had told me that reapers needed to erase players to live, but with this as the reason... _'Tch... What an immature little kid.'_

"HEY! I AM NOT A LITTLE KID!" she screamed, stomping on the cat walk. The echoing metal was drowned out by her high pitched squealing.

"I DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING!" Katsu screamed aggravatingly as if he was chewing or tree bark. By now, he lost every sense of silliness in his voice.

I felt my eyes go wider, if they actually could, and even stepped back. _'Wait... Can she read my mind..?!"_

"YEAH, I CAN READ YOUR MIND!" she exclaimed. "I'M A GAME MASTER! AND I TOTALLY HEARD YOUR EARLIER COMMENT! THAT WAS SO UNCALLED FOR!" she screeched, pointing a finger at my direction. "I TOTALLY PRETENDED TO IGNORE IT, BUT YOU SAID IT AGAIN! WAY UNCOOL!"

I felt a little awkward, and even fidgeted in my position. I don't know why, but I felt a little embarrassed. I pretended that it never happened, much to the reaper's dismay, and awkwardly took out my phone. _'10:47...'_

"Kehehe..." the Game Master let out a low cackle. "Look's like you're totally running out of time. Very well! Here's my totally impossible challenge, made just for you!"

Neither him nor I had time to respond.


	4. Week 2, Day 1

**WEEK 2, DAY 1**

* * *

I didn't even feel like I slept.

It was as if I just blinked, and here I was at Hachiko, with Katsu standing right in front of me, leaning against the statue. He couldn't see me, of course. I was in the UG and he was in the RG. I sighed.

_'Is she some sadist or something..?' _I didn't see why I needed to spawn here. But I was wasting time just staring at someone who wouldn't respond.

I tried to scream out, "Does anyone need a partner?" but nothing came out. My eyes widened. _'My voice is still gone..!' _Then I cursed at myself. _'How could I forget to ask about it yesterday?!'_ I gritted my teeth in nervousness. I doubt that anyone would even know I was a player.

I turned around. There were noise vigils flying around, but they were only chasing other partner-less players. I saw a couple of pacts being made around, and those players didn't chose to help out the other ones in danger. For some odd reason, the noise didn't notice me. It could be that I was somewhat isolated from the other players.

Deciding not to be idle, I tried running after the player closest to me that was being chased by noise. She looked at me, fear-stricken. In response, I pointed to the player pin on her collar. Realization hit her eyes along with a faint smile.

"Yeah! Let's make a pa-AHH!" she responded hastily, but froze for some reason and was lifted in the air by a noise vigil. I looked up in horror as she disappeared a second later, but not before looking down at me with a quivery expression. I wanted to mourn her untimely death, but time wouldn't let me.

I turned in the direction that the noise came from, and saw a swarm coming after me. _'Damn it..!' _I kept running. When I looked around me, I saw more players being picked off of the ground, whilst others made pacts in the distance or went about their own business, but it was hard to tell who was who with the large crowd and whatnot.

The rush of this was too much. The noise had cornered me into a corner. More emerged from the back, and now there was a swarm hesitating to sweep in and get me. It was as if they were taunting me.

_'Damn it...' _I thought, though more hopelessly. I backed into a brick wall. All that was in my vision were endless red noise vigils and the clear blue sky. _'This is it..!'_

I knew well enough that a player without a partner was doomed. I stiffened up and quelled. I closed my eyes waiting for the worst. What I didn't expect was to feel myself levitating, though with a more peaceful feel. I opened my eyes and saw that the train station was empty.

_'The noise plane... But...' _I cringed and stepped back. I felt something soft brush against my leg. It startled me, but I looked down and saw the cat doll jouncing in place.

I checked my pocket and pulled out everything. I opened up my palm. _'Five pins, my cellphone, and the weird metal...' _I pocketed my cellphone and the piece of metal that Katsu inferred was a bullet.

_'I guess I have to fight the noise before I'm erased... But...' _I clenched my teeth. _'I won't be able to put a scratch on them without a partner!' _I kicked the ground with my left foot. _'At least I can say I didn't go down without a fight.'_

I put my guard up. Three frog noise appeared on the further side of the train station. On cue, I put my energy into the fire pin and engulfed the three in flames. They croaked in response before two of them jumped out of the blaze.

The two that escaped the fire spit out bubbles which spread to my side in a second. I concentrated the fire in front of me now. The bubbles popped, but the time that was wasted getting rid of them gave the frogs time to attack.

Two of them jumped over the fire and onto my face, sending me to impact the ground. I ignored the pain; there was much more to come.

I focused on the chain pin and sent it only an inch above my face. It impaled the frogs, who screeched in response. I slid to the left and stood up and stomped on the ground repeatedly.

The cat doll jumped up from behind me and trampled the two frogs on the chain with powerful stomping. The chain vibrated slowly in response.

Within seconds, the two frog noise disappeared into static.

My eyes broadened. _'What..? But that's impossible..! Isn't it?!'_

I looked behind me and saw the third from waiting patiently by my heel, and jumped in mid air. I flinched back, knowing that it was going to go after my face, but right before it reached impact, it fizzed into static.

_'But that's not...'_

* * *

_'...possible!'_

I hastily looked around me. The people were back, and the crowd of noise that was surrounding me disbanded and bolted in different directions.

_'What just happened..?'_

"It appears I won this time around," a pleased voice said from next to me. I almost jumped back in surprise.

When I turned my head to look at him, I was beyond shocked. _'It's that boy... From two days ago!'_

"Hee-hee. Shocked? Yes, I would be too," he responded.

I felt a stirring feeling. _'How is this possible..? He wasn't there at the end of the week... Unless... Did he evade Day 7 somehow?' _I crossed my arms and started thinking to myself. _'But what about his partner?'_

"Anyway, let me introduce myself. Yoshiya Kiryu, at your service," he said as he did a mock bow. "Mother and father call me Joshua... I suppose you can too..."

I restrained myself from grimacing. I felt another stirring feeling. _'Don't tell me...'_ I felt my mood sink a little.

"Seeing that you're my _dear_, _dear, _partner," he claimed with a smirk.

I felt my jaw drop a little. _'I never made a pact with this piece of scum... Did I? Wasn't he erased already?'_ This should have been a good thing... He seemed formidable enough when I faced him, and saved me from erasure. But he shouldn't be "alive," and that was rather suspicious.

He smiled, which seemed similar to a smug smirk. It was as if he knew what I was thinking. "Did _I _turn into static when the time ran out..?" he asked mockingly.

I became befuddled. _'He didn't... But then how...'_

"Hee-hee," he chuckled at my confusion.

I shot him a glare, sufficing as a question to how he survived.

"Why are you antagonizing _me_? I saved your life, didn't I?" he asked with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

_'He did... But... Why partner up with me..? And don't both sides have to agree to a pact?' _I looked at him skeptically, much to his amusement.

Our phones rang before our "conversation" could continue.

I took out my phone.

_"Reach 104. _

_You have 120 minutes._

_Fail, and face erasure._

_-The Reapers"_

I winced in pain as my hand embedded a timer on itself. Though my attention was on the back of my hand, I noticed that from the corner of my eye, Joshua was unfazed. In fact, he didn't even seem to acknowledge it, unlike Katsu who just beared it.

"Reach 104, huh..." Joshua wondered to himself as he looked at my phone. "Not very original, are we?" he asked no one in particular.

_'What are you talking about..?' _I asked myself.

"Anyway, I'm sure that the other players will finish the mission. That was the case last time, was it not?" Joshua proposed to me. "Why don't we do something? It's rather mundane here." He looked at me with expectancy, but there was a certain hint of amusement in his eyes.

I raised an eyebrow. He was definitely a shady character. _'Why would you bother slacking off during the Reaper's Game? This is for your life after all...' _I shot Joshua a look before walking towards the Scramble Crossing.

"Wait a second, Hype."

I ignored him and kept walking. Ironically, I hit an invisible wall that knocked me back. I grimaced.

I heard Joshua snicker from behind me. "You have to clear the wall first," he stated the obvious.

I scowled. He couldn't see it, but it was as if he sensed it.

"Now... Where's that harrier reaper?" he asked out loud and wandered off.

I looked around me. _'Where are the other players too? I saw some earlier...' _But the train station was void of any players. Or, at least the ones I saw from earlier. Even so, wouldn't one pair have cleared the wall already? _'Maybe the noise...' _I thought to myself. After all, there were tons.

"Over here, Hype," Joshua called from the Statue of Hachiko.

I turned around and made my way. I cocked my head to ask what he wanted.

"Tell me... Do you know the story of Hachiko?"

_'...Why does that matter?' _I asked myself and looked at Joshua quizzically. He didn't seem to notice, as he was looking at Hachiko with deep interest. I reluctantly nodded my head.

Despite not even looking at me, he knew my response. "Oh, good... That'll save us some time."

_'Save us some time..?' _

Joshua seemed to notice my confusion. "Hee-hee... It's nothing," he said, waving the topic off and weaving himself back in the crowd again.

I watched his back carefully, almost as if I expected him to do something. _'What a weird kid...'_ I thought as I followed him in the crowd. While following him, I looked around for a red hoodie. _'None...'_ I looked around for Joshua. _'Where did he go?'_

"Over here, Hype," I heard his voice.

I stood on my toes and easily found his location from his unique hair. When I walked up to him, he was facing a black hooded person. _'A reaper?'_

"Erase four noise vigils within the area in a chain battle. It doesn't matter how many, as long as it's at least four," the reaper recited.

_'...Chain battle?'_ I let the confusion show on my face to try and get an answer from the reaper, but he instead just kept looking straight forward. I grimaced.

"A chain battle is a battle against any number of noise vigils, so long as it's more than one, one after another with no breaks. The fighting gets tougher as the chain number progresses," Joshua explained. He then smirked. "Really, Hype. I thought a top notch player like yourself would know this."

I furrowed my brows.

"You better step it up, _partner_. Hee-hee," he said replying to my facial expression and turned away. "I'll look for some noise in the area. Just wait one second."

He irked me, but I didn't object. I didn't have a player pin after all, so what better would I do? But this gave me time to think.

_'He didn't turn into static a few days ago...' _I recapped. _'So he wasn't erased. Yet shouldn't he be? He didn't complete the mission, and Katsu told me that his partner was erased after the time ran out.' _I turned around to look at Joshua. He was looking at the air around him. _'I'd drop this scum if I could, but I don't see any other players around...'_

I thought I saw Joshua raise his arm.

* * *

Within the blink of an eye, all of the people around me disappeared. The cat doll materialized at my feet, and seconds later, three frog noise in the distance.

Realizing what happened, I cursed. _'Damn it, Joshua!' _He could have told me he was sending us into battle.

The frogs had already started hopping towards me, so I stuck my fist into my pocket and grabbed the first pin that came into my grip. I extended my arm and held it up as a cop would with a badge and the frogs became engulfed in flames. However, as opposed to their usual croaking, they seemed to just suck in the energy.

_'What the..?' _I wondered as I pulled the pin down. After the frogs finished basking, they started hopping in my direction again. I sidestepped as two attempted to jump onto my face. I turned to their direction and stomped on the ground, rubbing my foot on the gravel. The cat doll went up to one and slammed its foot into its face and repeatedly crushed its skull. It disappeared seconds later.

_'Well that was... Quick.'_ I thought curiously.

I lifted up my foot again to do the same to the other, but I felt little bursts of pain on my face. I froze in shock.

As I looked to the left wincing, I saw bubbles. I concentrated on the flame pin again and popped all of the bubbles. As I was doing so, a frog attempted to jump onto my face, so I swung my arm in its direction, letting the cat doll jab it into static.

The last frog turned into static before I did anything else. _'Looks like I have a strong partner...' _I inquired.

My vision flashed a bright white, and when I rubbed my eyes, I was still in the noise plane. However, the cat doll materialized at my feet, making me believe it disappeared for whatever reason. Across the train station were three kangaroos. My phone beeped, and when I took it out of my pocket, it said "Chain 2." I put it back and switched it with another pin.

I wasted no time and concentrated on the pin in my grip. I ran at the speed of light towards the triangular-formed kangaroos and knocked them down like bowling pins. In unison, they jumped into the air and were about to land on me. Instead of dodging, I gave the air an uppercut and let the doll hit them back up.

As they dropped to the ground I stuck my hand in my pocket and switched the fast pin with another random pin. Concentrating on it, the ground shook, sending the three collapsed kangaroos into little spasms. They disappeared seconds later.

_'...Already?'_ I wondered. _'Yestderday it took a lot longer than that to erase some kangaroos.'_

Another flash and another message that said "Chain 3." Across from me were three crabs. As they swung their boomerang-like head accessory, or at least that's what I thought it was, I took out a random pin. I took a few steps forward and eradicated the projectiles with one swing of my arm that had transformed into what resembled a grizzly noise's.

Using my other arm, I lashed it into empty air and watched as the cat doll ran up to the three of them who were grouped together. It grew claws from its paws and thrashed the three crabs. Two of the were flung back and fizzed into static. One landed on its back. I stomped on the floor and watched the cat doll do the same. The crab disappeared into static.

Another flash and my phone said "Chain 4." Instead of three noise, as I had anticipated, there was one grizzly. I grabbed a random pin from my pocket and I charged into the grizzly, knocking it down with a roar. I spun around and kicked the air dramatically and watched as the cat doll gave it a powerful kick. The grizzly flew back a few feet, howling in pain.

I took out another pin and concentrated on it. Three chains impaled the grizzly from different directions, and it screeched. For a second, I just watched it writhe in pain. For some reason, I felt somewhat guilty; I had no problem erasing noise before, but seeing one react this way...

I punched the air and the cat doll followed, pounding it into static. _'Such a strong noise, yet it didn't even hit me... Come to think of it, I barely hit it too.'_

I blinked and the Train Station flowed back to life.

"My, that was rather easy, wasn't it?" asked a satisfied voice from behind me.

I turned around and scowled. _'Seriously... He could have at least told me that we were going into battle.'_

Joshua had a smug smirk and was frisking the pins we won from the fight. "Well then, the mission, right?"

I nodded without looking at him and walked over to the reaper with the black hoodie.

"Objective met. Wall clear!" he confirmed as he and the wall simultaneously disappeared.

"Hey! The wall's gone now!" a voice said from behind me.

I turned around. When I saw Joshua do the same, I knew he wasn't the one who was surprised, not that I expected him to be. I saw two girls, about our age, in high school uniforms, different from mine though. They ran past Joshua and I, presumably towards 104.

"See? Other players will complete the mission. Why don't we go do something?" Joshua urged.

_'Are you trying to kill us..?' _I shook my head no and crossed my arms.

Joshua scowled and sighed, which sounded somewhat sarcastic. "Alright, as you wish," he gave in and walked towards 104.

I watched his back. _'What's with this guy..? I don't feel right around him.' _Despite my protests to go to 104, I took the time to give Katsu one last look. He sighed and stopped leaning on the statue and walked away. I stared at him as I walked away. _'I don't know what Joshua has to fight for... But I know what I have to.'_

* * *

I walked into the Scramble crossing to see Joshua lazily leaning against the lamp post. He was doing something on his phone. Before I could observe him further, he saw me.

"Well, look who's hesitant now," he said smugly.

I ignored his comment and walked past him.

"There's a wall at 104. Those two other players haven't cleared it yet," he informed me. "Or more accurately, they don't know _how _to," he added with a hint of sadism.

I looked over at the two girls at the other street corner.

"Oh my god! How do we get past it?!" one girl fretted. She had dark brown hair that was cut above her shoulders.

"I don't know! I don't know!" the other girl replied fearfully while shaking her arms. She had dirty blonde hair that went a little past her chest. "Wh-What if you find the reaper!"

"I don't know?! Do we kill it?!"

"What does a reaper even look like?!" the girl cried.

"We're gonna die! We're doomed!"

"At least we have each other..! We'll figure it out!"

The first girl looked close to tears, while the other one was panicking.

Feeling awkward just by watching, I looked away and back to Joshua. He seemed amused.

"Well then, where do we start?" he asked me, not expecting an answer.

I searched the crowd around the entrance to the 104 building. I squinted, looking at black and red heads. _'No... I don't see any reapers.'_

"Woah! Down!" an alarmed voice exclaimed.

I shot my head in the sound's direction.

There was a person in a red hoodie. His face was clouded by shadows. I knew from the red hoodie alone that he was a reaper, but there was something off-putting about his appearance. His presence felt different. He was stumbling backwards into a brick building. His attacker was...

_'Is... That a wolf?' _I thought baffled. It was indeed a wolf, but not just an ordinary wolf... It was definitely a noise, but it had an eerie feel to it. _'But why isn't it just a vigil?'_

"Well this is getting interesting," Joshua commented. "A taboo wolf noise. You've seen one before, correct?"

I felt a stirring feeling. I looked at Joshua, expecting an answer.

"Hee-hee, your pin," he pointed out. "The one with the wolf on it."

I searched my pocket for the said pin and took it out. I examined it.

"Yes, that's it. Wolf."

_'Yes, I know it's a wolf... Dick.'_

"What? You didn't know?" Joshua asked mockingly, as if sensing my thoughts. "Pins have names... Here in the UG at the very least."

_'...They do?'_

"But we can save that for later," he said, brushing off the topic. He looked back at the orange-hooded reaper. "What do you want to do? Help him or leave him?"

I thought about it.

"After all, reapers _do _run the game, so wouldn't it be better for us to get rid of a few?" he asked, assuming that my answer was the latter.

I glared at him before running to the noise and I taking out a random handful of pins from my pocket. If the reaper was gone, it was most likely that our chances of getting to 104 would be too. As I approached the wolf, my vision became lighter until all I could see was light. I slowed down as my vision started to revert back to normal. There was a growling noise around me. I spun around and was shocked to see not one wolf, but three.

_'Taboo noise... Do they not have a vigil form? Does only one suffice as one?'_

I readied my stance for them to attack.

_'Oh well... This'll be quick, anyway.'_

The trio of wolves charged in my direction and I dodged. They all skidded to a halt and faced me. One ran up to me and stood on its hind legs, its two front claws intent on mauling me.

I stumbled backwards to dodge, but a strong force shoved me to the left. My face skidded on the concrete floor, my body even lifting from the ground at some point. I feebly looked up, only to be overshadowed.

The wolf in front of me gnarled its teeth and then engulfed my head in its mouth. Its teeth dug into my neck and it started swinging me around in its mouth.

My throat was on fire and sent pinging burns throughout my body at a steady beat. My eyes widened as the teeth rubbed against my flesh. I felt air escaping my throat in large intervals. I had felt pain for the past few days, but I didn't expect noise to have this kind of prowess. _'Were noise... Always this strong?'_

Finally, the wolf snapped its head in one direction, flinging me into a brick wall. The impact was so strong that I stayed up there for a good three seconds before finally falling and landing on the ground with a thud.

After I slumped to the ground, I used my shaky hands to feel around my neck, as if expecting blood despite the fact that I knew I couldn't bleed. When my fingers first frisked over my neck, I started violently choking. My eyes couldn't get any wider. I was sure that agonizing red veins sprouted straight to my irises.

I looked up, still clutching my neck with my unstilled hands. The three had started to corner me.

I felt hot, tired, _weak_... But unlike last time, I wasn't willing to give up. There was no energy pin to save us this time. I defenselessly punched the air with my right fist before my arm slumped back down as if a one ton weight was dropped on it. The cat doll jumped in front of me and then charged at the closest wolf. It jabbed its cheek, and the wolf winced, skidding a few feet away on its paws, but remained unfazed otherwise. I punched the air two more times. The other two wolves followed in its example.

_'No good...' _I examined. _'That didn't do anything.'_

I used these few seconds to catch my breath and stand up. I was slightly slouching and hyperventilating, but I tried to straighten myself out. After all, any hesitation would lead to my demise.

The wolves started to rise. I took that as a cue to get my pins ready. I extended my shaking arm to my pocket and tried to ignore the pulses of pain it sent. I took out the first three pins that I felt. I took a quick peek at them.

_'The fire pin, the bear pin, and the chain pin,' _I noted.

The three wolves simultaneously leaned back to charge. I crushed the pins in my palm with what little strength I had left and had three chains impale them. They whimpered in response. As they struggled to get out, I took the chance to catch my breath again. It probably wasn't the wisest idea, but I couldn't help it.

When the chains disintegrated, I used the fire pin to make a wall of fire in front of me. I ran to the right where there was no fire. I rounded the edge and leaned forward a little to see the wolves snarling at the wall of fire. As long as they thought I was behind it, I would have the element of surprise. I put the last of my energy into the bear pin and watched as my arms turned into one that resembled a noise's. The weight, while usually unfaltering, caused me to stumble a little, and it took a few seconds to catch myself from falling.

My struggle seemed to catch the attention of one of the wolves. As it charged after me, I hastily swiped the air, stumbling backwards in return. The cat doll jumped in front of me and then proceeded to charge at the wolf, running through it in one swipe. The wolf disappeared into static.

I sighed with relief but quickly regained my composure. The fire wall had died down and the two other wolves were now glaring at me with eyes filled with blood lust. Still exhausted from earlier, I knew I couldn't take them all on at once, yet I didn't know how to separate them.

I summoned two chains that impaled them through their chests. They roared in pain while I hobbled away as quickly as I could. I hid behind a parked car and slumped to the floor panting heavily.

I closed my eyes and started ruminating on an idea. _'Perhaps if I just concentrated on erasing one... No, that won't work. I can't even tell them apart!' _Letting out a huff of air, I stood up and peeked my head from behind the car. The wolves were sniffing around, and it would be a safe bet to say that it was for my blood.

I took out all of the pins from my pocket and chose out the earthquake one and the running one before putting them all back into my pocket. I took a deep breath before activating the earthquake pin.

The two remaining wolves slumped to the ground, and I took that as a cue to speed through the one cosest to me. It whimpered in response and became airborne, flying back a few good yards. It skidded on its back before flipping over and using its claws as a break, which worked despite the shaking ground. It was as if it was never hurt.

The wolf charged at me and I charged at it again using the power of the wolf pin. We clashed, but the impact itself was surprisingly painless. The pin overpowered the wolf as I trampled over it. I hastily turned around to see it twitching on the floor just as the earthquake stopped.

In the distance, I saw the other wolf slowly recovering.

_'Damn it... I need to finish this up!'_

I stuffed my hand in my pocket and grabbed whatever I reached. I glanced down at it quickly, relieved to see the bear pin.

I hacked at the wolf by my feet, sending it flying into the wall not too far from us. Its body flung as if it was already dead. The wolf's body bounced off of the brick wall as if it was made of rubber and slued back to the ground. It looked defenseless.

I stood over it and impaled its throat with the claws on my left hand. It gave out a final whimper as it slowly faded to static. Exhaustion caught up with me as I now relied on my giant bear arm to hold me up. I almost slumped to the floor, but the dying wolf under me gave me a reason to stand up.

I was hyperventilating as the wolf turned into static. I gave out a sigh of relief as I was tacked to the floor.

My bear arms disappeared but I didn't let go of the pin. My head slammed against the concrete, making my vision blurry, but I wasn't sure if it was because of the impact or just my prior exhaustion.

The wolf's claws dug into my shoulders and legs, not budging. It snarled its teeth.

I couldn't move.

I feebly reached for my pocket while panting with fear. My eyes were involuntarily closing and I slowly lost control of my body.

I closed my eyes before feeling the weight of the wolf being lifted from my body. I managed to crack my eyes open to see static clouding my vision.

_'So he did it...'_ I concluded. _'Heh.'_

* * *

I was doubled over trying to catch my breath. While I didn't feel as lifeless as I did only moments ago, it felt somewhat comforting.

_'That was tough...' _I thought to myself. _'Never again...'_ I noted, promising myself to never approach taboo noise if I saw one.

"You almost let me down," a voice informed me from behind me. "Luckily, I thought on my feet and saved us both."

When I stood up and turned around, Joshua was looking at me smugly.

"But do you honestly think that was much of a challenge?" he asked.

I cocked my head to the side.

"Hee-hee... The reaper over there," Joshua started, directing his head in the direction of the red-hooded reaper who was pressed against a wall. "He did most of the work. We just finished up for him."

_'... WH-WHAT?!' _I thought, bewildered. _'We almost got erased, for God's sake! Are you telling me that taboo noise usually last longer?!'_

"He probably also tired them out," he added, sensing my bewilderment. "They weren't attacking nearly as often as they would be." The tone of his voice indicated that he was just saying these things to get a reaction out of me, but yet again, it was believable.

We heard a rough sigh from the reaper. He stood up hesitantly and walked over to us.

"Well, would you be so kind and clear this wall for us?" Joshua asked before giving the reaper a chance to speak.

"U-Uh..." The reaper nodded awkwardly and the wall disappeared.

"Let's go, Hype," Joshua suggested as he walked towards the 104 Building.

"But why..?" the reaper muttered to himself when Joshua was out of sight.

That could have meant a lot of things. Why did we save him? Why did Joshua walk away? Why did the noise attack him?

I walked away.

* * *

When I held up the back of my palm to my face, the timer disintegrated, leaving a feeling of relief behind.

"O-Oh my gosh! We did it!" a voice from behind me exclaimed.

I flung my head backwards. Right behind us were the two girls from earlier. They had apparently seen the wall disappear and ran over to 104, just as we did.

"We did!" the other girl echoed with passion. "See? We can win! We just have to work together!"

"Hee-hee... Should we tell them?" Joshua asked from behind me.

I looked at him, raising my eyebrow.

"Tell us what?" a voice asked from behind us.

Joshua and I turned around. Apparently they had overheard us.

"Yeah, what?" the short haired girl asked, curiosity unhidden from her voice.

"Allow me to introduce myself. You can address me as Joshua, and my partner over here is Hype," Joshua greeted, gesturing his hand to me.

_'Dodging the question, are you?'_

"Oh! Well I'm Mina, and this is Ai," the short haired girl greeted gleefully.

Ai waved when her name was mentioned.

"It's nice to meet you!" Mina added.

"Likewise," Joshua replied.

"So... What's this you want to tell us?" Ai asked.

"Hey Hype, don't they seem familiar?" Joshua asked, avoiding the question again.

Ai furrowed her brows, noticing his notion.

Despite this, I looked at them. They actually did seem somewhat familiar.

"Have we met somewhere?" Mina asked curiously.

Joshua shrugged.

"I don't think so, Mina..."

"Are you sure, Ai? I mean, since he's asking..."

"Anyway," Joshua cut in. "Quite convenient, isn't it?" Joshua asked casually. "The mission was fairly easy today."

"Yeah! I mean, if all we have to do is tour Shibuya for a week, we'll be back in no time!" Mina replied ecstatically.

"Unfortunately, not all missions are like this. Right Hype?" Joshua asked me with a smirk on his face.

I glared at him. _'Just what are you planning to do..?'_

"Huh? Is something wrong?" Mina asked.

I snapped out of my thoughts. I shook my head no to assure them that they didn't do anything.

"Oh, that's right. Hype can't talk," Joshua added in, with a fake tone of sheepishness in his voice.

I looked at Joshua curiously. _'Is he just trying to tease me or something?'_

"Oh, that must be awful!" Mina exclaimed, covering her mouth.

I smiled and shook my head, as if to assure her that it wasn't anything too bad.

"So... Was it your entry fee?" Ai asked with pity in her voice.

I thought about it for a second and shrugged. I wasn't exactly sure if it was my entree fee or not. Katsu and I had a few theories, but there would be no point in attempting an explanation.

"Oh, I'm sorry for bringing it up," Ai replied apologetically.

I shook my hands to suffice as telling her that it was alright.

"So, what did you want to tell us about?" Mina asked.

"Oh, right. Can we have a rein check?" Joshua asked, not suppressing the tone of raillery in his voice.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Ai asked, almost skeptically.

"You see, there's something I want to do while we're here..." Joshua trailed off, turning his back to us in deep thought.

"What's wrong with him?" Mina murmured to Ai almost inaudibly.

"I don't know... He's pretty weird," Ai responded, mimicking her tone.

"Anyway," Joshua chimed, turning back to me. "Let's go Hype," he suggested as he walked back towards the Scramble Crossing.

I cocked my head in confusion. He disappeared into the crowd within seconds. I turned back to the two girls, who were also watching Joshua in confusion.

"You know, I'm kinda curious about what he had to say..." Ai thought out loud.

"Me too."

"Do you think we'll see him tomorrow?"

"Hmm..." Mina contemplated to her self. "I don't know."

"Oh well..."

"So, you can't speak..?" Mina asked awkwardly, trying to spark a conversation between the three of us.

I nodded.

"Maybe it's not that... He said that she can't speak, but is it just that you don't know _how _to?" Ai considered to herself.

That sent confusion through my body. I actually felt my eyes widen. _'It's an interesting theory...' _I thought to myself, divulging in deep thought. I tried humming to see if a noise would come out, but nothing.

"And how did he even know her name? If it is her name..." Ai continued.

I snapped out of my deep thought.

"Well, it was nice meeting you, Hype! Maybe we'll see you later in the week!" Mina said as she waved goodbye and headed for the 104 building.

Ai looked back at me and waved half-heartedly before following Mina.

I shyly put my hand up in acknowledgment before going my own way into the Scramble Crossing to look for my idiotic partner.

Though on my way, I felt a pain pulse through my head, and I fell to the floor.

* * *

**WEEK 2, DAY 1 : END**

* * *

Typing my story on Fanfiction is torture.

I keep losing work because my internet crashes, or the page reloads itself, I lose connection, etc. I hate having to re-write scenes so many times, but I don't have word or anything, so there isn't really any other option for me.

The update was pretty late too. Not only did scenes get deleted, but I had no idea how to write this chapter. I'd finish scenes, but they're a lot shorter than I remember writing them as. This also has the least words so far, I think. Writers' block on the fourth chapter... That's not good.

I didn't really didn't know how to introduce Joshua as Hype's partner without it sounding corny, and frankly... It does sound corny. Oh well.

By the way, thanks for that Amulet Misty. I didn't even notice I wrote it twice, but I probably proof-read it four times XD

I do have a "main" direction of the story, but I don't have the small details worked out. What I mean is, I have a "timeline" thought out (if you want to call it that).

One more follower, which is cool, because I thought two was all that I was getting XD

Again, criticism welcome. Thanks for reading. I'll try to update faster.


	5. Announcement : Plot Summary

Hello, I'm sorry to say that this isn't a chapter.

I'm not saying that I'm definitely not going to continue this story, but if I am, there'll be a long hiatus.

**If you don't feel like waiting for it**, which I don't blame, **look below **to see the major plot parts and stuff.

I was actually on writer's block for this story, so I started writing a second one to try and pass it on, but it didn't work. Instead, I am fully motivated to continue my other one and lost all inspiration for this one (but that may be ephemeral).

So again, if you don't want to wait out this lengthy hiatus of mine, I'm posting everything that would've happened down below. If you want to wait it out and see if I continue writing, _do not read it._

* * *

_Chapter 5 : Week 2, Day 2_

Hype wakes up (Week 2, Day ?) and finds herself in Udagawa backstreets, laying on the stairs again. The mysterious figure (whom I'm going to guess all of you figured out was Sho Minamimoto) starts speaking, and well, I have this scene posted below, so you can just read that. Hype blacks out and then wakes up again (Week 2, Day 2) and sees Joshua on the phone, which as we know, shouldn't happen. She tries to listen in but only hears snippets. Joshua shrugs her off and tries to tempt her into going to a friend's, and she reluctantly agrees if the mission mail doesn't come in. They walk up to Miyashita Park until the mission mail comes in, and Hype refuses to go any further, much to Joshua's dismay. They carry out the mission (which would hold no relevance later) and then they're attacked by taboo noise. After defeating them, they are visited by an orange haired reaper (Kariya) who remarks to Joshua that he didn't expect to see him again. Before Hype could question it somehow, the chapter ends (they're put to sleep).

_Chapter 6 : Week 2, Day 3_

Hype and Joshua wake up at the Scramble Crossing again. Joshua insists that they go to see his friend again, but there is a wall blocking any passage. The only cleared paths are the ones leading to 104 and the one leading to Hachiko. Joshua lures Hype to Hachiko and engages in another conversation about it, mentioning that Hachi Fest was to take place next week. The mission mail comes in, and it concerns things about memes, which Joshua explains to Hype. Of course, Hype can't do anything because she doesn't have a player pin, so she relies on Joshua. Joshua leaves Hachiko and Hype is about to follow, until she spots Katsu again. He talks to himself, reprimanding himself for not thinking of leaving behind his pins. When he drops it at the statue's foot and leaves, Hype goes up to collect it. She finds the frog pin and cure drink. They go through with the mission, and during it, they meet up with Ai and Mina again and indulge in a friendly conversation. Ai reminisces about when she had a crush, Makoto, and it almost ruined her friendship. When Joshua leaves, Ai warns Hype to always trust her partner. Hype leaves to follow Joshua, and the chapter ends (they're put to sleep).

_Chapter 7 : Week 2, Day 4_

Hype wakes up to an impatient Joshua, who urges her to go to meet his friend. She stubbornly refuses, and then receives a mission mail to reach CAT Street in 10 minutes. She hurries over there with Joshua, only to notice that she didn't have a timer. She becomes peeved when Joshua mentions that he sent that mail and then ushers her into Hanekoma's cafe. She quells a bit upon learning that they were only heading to Hanekoma, who takes their phones and adds some features to it. The mission mail comes in, and Hanekoma urges them to go through with the mission. The mission leads them to the bus terminal at one point, to which Hype notices some wanted posters for missing people. Two people stick out; one girl with brown hair and glasses, and a boy with blonde hair and a black beanie. When she reads their names, she sees that they're "Shiki Misaki" and "Daisukenojo Bito." For some reason, she blacks out. When she awakens, Joshua is standing by her. He informs her that while she was out, the other players completed the mission. Hype doesn't believe him until she looks at her hand and sees the timer out. As she stands up, the orange haired reaper comes back and asks Joshua if there is a reason for this. Joshua circumvents the question and then introduces his partner. The reaper is confused at first, but upon noticing the cat doll in her arms comments that "she has a similar vibe." Hype attempts to ask what, when the reaper notices that she has no voice. He introduces himself as Kariya and then looks at Joshua disapprovingly, who asks why Kariya is even there. He remarks that being the conductor's assistant is no fun, and he was out looking for some. He then summons a horde of taboo noise and disappears. Hype and Joshua defeat all of the noise, and the chapter ends.

_Chapter 8 : Week 2, Day 5_

Hype wakes up (Week 2, Day ?) again, except this time without difficulty. She wanders around and notices she's in Udagawa again at 3:14 AM. She keeps going until she reaches the mural and places a hand on it, feeling a bit familiar. A voice shakes her out of her stupor and she jolts in the direction of the voice. There is someone standing some distance away with a gun in his hand, pointing at her. She has a strange sense of deja vu and wavers for a bit before the guy (Sho Minamimoto, but she doesn't know this) puts down the gun and kicks it to her. She reluctantly picks it up, to where he asks if she has the bullet. When she nods, he warns her to end it before he's too late. Her silence is enough to suffice as a question to who, to which he remarks "your partner." She recalls how a few days ago the figure said that "he" killed her, to which she realizes he means Joshua. Hype blacks out again, hearing Sho curse at his inability to keep it up for a while. Hype wakes up again, only to find her and Joshua surrounded by a horde of taboo noise. They defeat them, but are tired out by the time they're done. Joshua suggests that they take refuge at Hanekoma's, which Hype fully agrees with. No mission mail comes and all of the walls are nonexistent. On the way, they spot Kariya and Koko/Coco being ganged up by taboo noise at Towa Records. Joshua asks Hype what she wants to do, and she rushes over there and helps them. Kariya remarks, "Second time's the charm," and thanks Hype specifically. When Joshua isn't looking, he warns her to watch out. Before she could question it, Kariya claims that he has to go back to Uzuki (who Hype doesn't know, but the name sounds familiar) and disappears. Coco looks at Hype before disappearing herself. They continue advancing and reach Miyashita Park, where they witness Ai and Mina fighting noise in a similar fashion to how Sota and Nao did. Hype rushes over but Mina gets erased. Hype and Joshua engage in a battle and when they are done, Ai is on the verge of turning into static. She recites to Hype a similar speech that Sota did and tells Hype and Joshua to win, reminding Hype to trust her partner. Before Hype and Joshua continue to CAT Street, Joshua stops to take Hype to a window. He says how there was once a sibling pair who died here, and Hype gets a headache. They continue on to the cafe and find it in ruins, which also gives Hype a headache. Joshua reveals Hanekoma's add-ons and takes three pictures of the cafe, all at different times. He's unable to find anything wrong. Hype takes her pictures, and also finds before and after pictures, but nothing of what actually caused the destruction. She tries to take more, but Joshua informs her that the app only has three uses per day. Before any more investigation can go on, the chapter ends.

_Chapter 9 : Week 2, Day 6_

Hype wakes up to a mission mail and the timer burning her palm. Joshua, who already had his phone out, reads it to her. They're supposed to find and erase the rogue reaper who released all of the taboo noise the day prior. He warns Hype not to fool around, as he suspects that they're the only players left after yesterday. Hype scoffs at this as she views herself as the only one out of the two actually trying. They hunt around Shibuya for this rogue reaper, who they eventually find in Udagawa. Joshua confronts him and adresses him as "Sho Minamimoto," a name which Hype finds familiar. After Sho speaks, she identifies him as the mysterious man who has woken her up early a few times in the week. Joshua voices how he desires to keep Sho "alive" because he provides amusement, but he has gone out of line this time, causing him trouble "upstairs." Hype tries to question Joshua, but he takes advantage of her silence and pretends to not know what she's referring to, much to her irritation. Sho cuts in, yelling at Hype to use "it." Joshua eyes Hype curiously before Sho loses control of himself. He harangues about how he chose Hype because of their similar situations, and he himself couldn't get so close to Joshua. He transforms into a noise, and they engage in battle. Hype notices that Sho's fighting is a bit off, almost as if he isn't using his full potential. Joshua and Hype win, and Sho starts yelling at Hype about how she has to finish "it." He thrashes about, screaming that he killed her. Hype believes him, but doesn't give a hint and tries to think of a way to win without letting Joshua win. Wanting to examine how erasure works, she takes pictures of the place where Sho was erased. One picture is of him de-transforming, and another one is of him missing the next second. Confused at why she didn't see static, she takes another picture, but accidentally puts in the wrong time. Hanekoma is crouching down doing something on the ground, but before Hype could even acknowledge this, the chapter ends.

_Chapter 10 : Week 2, Day 7_

Hype and Joshua wake up in Udagawa, and Joshua suspects that Sho was the game master, as their location wasn't "reset" for the game day. Joshua says that they should find the Game Master so that they can win the reaper's game. After looking throughout all of Shibuya, they go to the underpass and find a bored looking pink haired reaper (Uzuki, but Hype doesn't know this/her), with Kariya standing by her. Hype dubs her "Pinky" in her mind, but can't fathom why she'd choose such a nickname. Joshua questions the reaper if she is the game master. She, not expecting any players to still be alive, snaps her attention to the two and looks at Joshua with deep amusement. She asks what he's doing the the game again, and Hype notices the use of "again." She tries to question it, but she's ignored due to her missing voice. Uzuki reveals that the game master was erased on Day 5, suspecting that it was Sho Minamimoto. However, Joshua remarks that with the Game Master absent, Uzuki herself has to battle the pair. She speaks to Kariya, saying that this is a good thing, as she's always wanted to raise to be the Composer to reward reapers (and implied more for herself and Kariya) better. This confuses Hype, and Kariya tries to object, but the battle starts (with Kariya spectating). Eventually, Uzuki comes out defeated (but leaves the figthing plane before she's erased), and questions in a tantrum/fit why she couldn't defeat the two (though it's more directed to Joshua), griping that shes been training the whole two years since the incident. Kariya tells Uzuki that it would be impossible with Joshua's prowess, and challenges her to look into Hype's soul. Uzuki complies, and with anger, admits that it has a familiarity that disgusts her. Hype is left confused. Uzuki goes into another fit and puts her soul into one attack, startling Kariya, and aims it at the two, claiming that if she can't the UG, she rather it be in Kariya's hands than the current composers. Hype panics, and exclaims that they're going to die. The sudden sounds of her voice shocks her and puts her into a stupor as she watches Uzuki rage, only to witness Joshua stand in front of her and mutters a reminder to her of what Ai said, to "trust your partner." Before Hype can object, she blacks out. Hype finds herself standing in some sort of void, with exhausted Uzuki and Kariya not too far away. She feels guilty about distrusting Joshua, and yells at Uzuki, demanding to know how she survived. Uzuki is too exhausted to speak, and Kariya, who is also exhausted, remarks how it was a good thing that he was there to "keep down her soul before it evaporated." He then turns to Hype and observes how she now has a voice and asks her her name. Hype is unsure and berates Kariya for skipping the question. Uzuki says she doesn't feel like a composer, and Kariya says that it was because "he" most likely predicted and planned this action. Uzuki throws another fit, and Hype cuts in, saying that she won the game and she should be brought back to life. Uzuki reluctantly agrees, still frustrated, and asks for her player pin. Hype is befuddled and reveals that she doesn't have a player pin, to which Uzuki finds sadistically amusing. She says that this means Hype technically wasn't in the game and that Hype must win another Reaper's Game to be brought back to life, and that Uzuki can't even seem to "find" her entree fee. Hype is bewildered and horrified, but agrees. She demands why she doesn't have any memories or her voice if she never had an entry fee, but she is ignored. As she blacks out, she overhears Kariya telling Uzuki that bringing her back would've been stopped by "him" anyway. The chapter ends.

_Chapter 11 : Week 3, Day 1_

Hype wakes up in the Scramble Crossing again, frustrated beyond belief and screams in frustration. In a way, this quells her to finally have a voice, but she's still haunted about how she has no memories. She hurries over to Hachiko to catch another glimpse of Katsu for comfort before setting off to find a partner. As she does, she quickly scours herself and is relieved to find a player pin. As she activated it to look for another partner, she notices that no one else seems to be a player. Her eyes widen upon realizing that other players were her entry she starts panicking before being lifted in the air and finding herself in a noise plane version of Hachiko. She is bewildered to see two translucent people standing next to her (descriptions of them are in the notes). She asks both of them who they are, to which they demand who Hype is. Suddenly, they start transitioning from translucent to opaque. The two people go wide eyed. They are confused at how they can see each other (one exclaimed "Rhyme?!" and the other exclaimed "Neku?!"), now uncaring of Hype's presence. Hype takes a mental note of their names while Neku explains to Rhyme in a confused fashion that as partners, they aren't supposed to see each other, as partners fight in different planes. Suddenly, the noise that they're fighting lunges at Hype (who was distracted) and Neku reflexively gets it off of her using a pin. He questions (in a demanding fashion) how that worked, as noise were supposed to be in two different planes. Rhyme suggests that they're all fighting in the same place, and Hype cuts in saying that questions can be asked later, to which Neku and Rhyme agree to and they defeat the noise. Neku and Hype fight using pins, while to Hype's astonishment, Rhyme turns into a noise form of what looks like a humanoid squirrel. As soon as the battle ends, Neku demands Hype's name and asks her why she has Mr. Mew. Hype, in an equally enraged tone, replies that she doesn't remember her name and doesn't know what a "Mr. Mew" is. Rhyme cuts in and remarks how Hype sounds familiar, and Neku agrees, saying how she sounds like Rhyme when she was younger. The mission mail comes in, interrupting their conversation, and says to meet at 104. Hype urges Neku and Rhyme to go instead of her, as Hype didn't make a pact and Neku and Rhyme did. Neku and Rhyme agree, but not before Neku warns Hype to stay there as he has more questions. While they're gone, Hype looks for Katsu at Hachiko, but doesn't see him. She wonders if Katsu either lost hope, as it had been a week already, or already left. She notices the timer go from her hand and Neku and Rhyme return shortly after. Rhyme asks if Hype was looking for something, to which she replies her old partner who was waiting for her. Neku questions what she means, and Hype explains how this was her third week. Neku and Rhyme are astonished, and Neku reveals how he also needed to beat three weeks to beat the Reaper's Game. Neku then reveals that this is his fourth time, the other three weeks taking place two years ago. Rhyme also explains that that's where she and Neku met, but they weren't partners. This gives Hype a headache. The three then reveal their entree fees. Rhyme says that it was her brother, Neku says that his was someone he had a deep affection for (Rhyme teases him that it's love, but he embarrassingly shrugs it off), and Hype says how she thought it was the other players, but with Neku and Rhyme here, that couldn't be it. Rhyme is determined to find Hype a partner, but there seems to be no other players around. Hype is suspivious of Rhyme due to her ability to have a noise form, something she's only seen reapers do, but decides that she has no choice. The chapter ends after their search.

_Chapter 12 : Week 3, Day 2_

The three of them wake up in the Scramble Crossing and receive the mission mail. Rhyme volunteers to do the mission (with Neku) while Hype looks around to see if there's another player without a pact. Hype and Neku are reluctant to agree, not trusting one another for different reasons (Hype has Mr. Mew and Neku has been acting hostile towards her). However, Rhyme says "Haste makes waste," and Hype feels urged to trust her after she says that. Neku agrees, and the two go away to fulfill the mission, which was to hunt down some sort of ringleader noise (a reference to Live Remix, though I don't have an android so I've never played it). Hype's search is fruitless and she still doesn't see Katsu around. Suddenly, she's lifted into the air and finds herself in an empty 104. Neku and Rhyme appear next to her, and they question why Hype showed up and why they can see each other. Rhyme is more quizzical, Hype is astonished, and Neku is suspicious. As the noise materialize on the other side of the plane, they drop their questions and take down the ringleader noise. At first, the three find it hard to cooperate to defeat the noise due to the planes being merged, but eventually get used to it and defeat the ringleader noise together. Neku demands how Hype did that, to which Hype, mirroring Neku's hostile demeanor, snaps that she should be asking them. Rhyme breaks up the fight again and suggest that the three go back to Hachiko to find another player. On their way, they pass by the Scramble Crossing, when they pass by Coco. She excitedly calls out to Neku and recalls how she hasn't seen him in two years and is excited to introduce herself to Rhyme. However, when she sees Hype, she looks bewildered and says that she didn't expect Hype to be there, as she hasn't seen her for a while. Hype is confused and remarks that it's only been a few days, to which Coco mutters "right," and then questions what Coco is doing out here. Neku explains that Coco is like a merchant and sells stuff to help players in the game. He then apologizes to Coco, as the three are broke, and they continue on to Hachiko. Hype looks around for Katsu again, and doesn't find him. She voices how she hopes she might be able to spot him during Hachi fest some time this week. Rhyme corrects her and says that Hachi Fest was last week, and Hype just assumes Joshua got the date wrong and that they just weren't at Hachiko the day the festival happened. Neku longingly reminisces about how he went with Shiki once, who claimed that "it was a blast," giving Hype another sense of deja vu. Hype then asks how Neku knew her toy's name was Mr. Mew, and Neku snaps at her, claiming that it's Shiki's and not hers. Hype swears in her mind that the name "Shiki" is familiar, and then recalls the wanted poster she saw last week. She wonders if that's the same Shiki, but quickly denies it, almost as if she was in denial. The chapter ends.

_Chapter 13 : Week 3, Day 3_

The three of them wake up in the Scramble Crossing again, and Neku is confused why Coco isn't where she usually is. Hype has a feeling that Coco is avoiding her, but doesn't voice it. Rhyme suggests that since Hype can't find a partner and that they all battle in the same plane anyway, the three of them just act as partners. Neku doesn't want to agree, but sees no way out of it and reluctantly admits that he think Hype is a good fighter. Rhyme is happy at her new found friendship and continues to ask Hype about herself (to which most of she can't answer) and why she's in the game a third time. The mission mail comes in again and it concerns using memes again. Rhyme, sensing that Hype has no experience with memes, starts to explain it, along with other things (like the features on the cellphone). During this, Hype shows Rhyme the pins that Katsu left for her, and Rhyme recalls how she and her brother couldn't use it at one point, so she gave it to Neku. Hype follows in Rhyme example, deciding that in the case any lives are in danger, it would be safer to go in numbers just in case the pin can only heal those that formed a pact. They complete the mission and soon after, spot Kariya. Hype marches up to Kariya and demands to know where "Pinky" is and why there are only three players. Kariya shrugs off her notion, making Hype angry in the process, and claims that she may be surprised. Rhyme and Neku follow Hype and Kariya greets them as "Phones" and "Skulls Jr," then turns to Hype and says, "I suppose that makes you Phones Jr, hm?" Hype feels another sense of deja vu, and then demands Kariya tells them anything about the game, or at least Coco's whereabouts. Kariya seems to not know that she was missing, and leaves. Hype tries to chase after him, but the chapter ends.

_Chapter 14 : Week 3, Day 4_

The three of them wake up in the Scramble Crossing again, and Neku again notices that Coco isn't where she usually is. He starts getting suspicious of Hype, who lashes out at Neku in response. Rhyme again tries to coax them not to fight, but even when they do, they're still at odds with each other. When they look around, they notice that there are reapers guarding walls, something which Hype just realizes hasn't happened for a few days. The mission mail is only to shop at 104 and eat some ramen, something which confuses the three of them. Hype and Neku are a bit suspicious. On the other hand, Rhyme frantically objects to doing the mission, for she claims that the last time she tried to complete a mission that seemed simple, her brother was almost erased. Hype asks what happened, and Rhyme retells the story of how she saved Beat (the name is familiar to Hype, but she can't remember) and took his place in being erased. Neku finishes the story, saying how Hanekoma bound her remaining soul to a pin, but her entree fee was gone because she had been erased. Rhyme explains that that's how she's been able to turn into a noise to fight. Hype then tells them that she met Hanekoma. Neku accuses her of destroying Wild Cat, but before Hype can object, Rhyme reasons that Hype couldn't do that if Hype was in the game. Neku reluctantly considers the possibility, and then tries to convince Rhyme to go through with the mission. With Hype's help, she agrees, and they go to the reaper holding the wall to 104. Neku recognizes him, as does Hype (but she doesn't know from what). The reaper introduces himself as Tenho and challenges Neku to a rematch tin pin match because he's bored as there hasn't been anything to do in the past week and he's still mad about Neku winning two years ago. Neku wins with ease and the three head to the 104 building. Neku complains about how it's always They spot The Prince, someone who Hype strangely feels attracted to (but doesn't voice it), and Rhyme almost loses her pendant. She goes into a frenzy until she realizes that it's right where she left it (tied around one of her belt loop), as it's a gift from Beat. After buying the cheapest thing in 104, they head down to Ramen Don. Hype finds the taste of the ramen good but familiar. The chef instantly remembers Hype and is a bit surprised to see that she actually spoke to him this time. Hype makes up an excuse that she lost her voice (in an ill kind of way). The chef then spots Neku and Rhyme, who are apparently regulars, and tells Hype about how Neku helped him save his business. After they finish up their chat and their ramen, Hype notices that the timer was most likely long gone, but Rhyme is still not at rest, expecting something to happen. Nothing does, and the chapter ends.

_Chapter 15 : Week 3, Day 5_

They wake up in the Scramble Crossing and Rhyme is relieved that nothing happened, but she is wary of why the past missions have been so simplistic. Neku and Hype agree, and Hype suggests that they just break through every wall and hunt down the game master. Neku compares her to a Rhino, much to Hype's irritation, and Rhyme comments how Hype reminds her of her brother. The mission mail comes in and only says, "Come to the roof of Pork City." There is no time limit or other details. Rhyme becomes frantic again, but Hype and Neku are able to coax her into going to Pork City. They pass a few walls, and after facing the 13 floors with hardships, make it to the top. They are surprised to see Sho Minamimoto up there, whom Neku refers to as "Pi Face." Hype takes up this nickname and asks Sho how he's still alive, as she and Joshua erased him. Neku interrupts harshly and demands who Joshua is and Rhyme looks just as intrigued. Sho notes that he would definitely lose the fight in this situation, and takes the advantage of the three's diverted attention to escape. Hype and Neku become enraged. Rhyme suggests that they could look for him as there are no longer any timers on their hands. Hype has a strong urge to check some place called the Room of Reckoning, but has no idea where it is. Once she asks Neku and Rhyme, Neku says he knows exactly where that is. The three rush to the Shibuya River and explore deeply, with Neku discussing what he saw last time on the way there. They reach Dead God's Pad and see an exhausted Coco and glowing Sho Minamimoto. Sho claims that "it finally came!" while Coco inches to Hype and mutters a "sorry I couldn't help," as she gets erased. Hype and Neku are now enraged and engage in another fight against Sho Minamimoto. However, he seems to have a myriad of noise forms this time (Leo Cantus, Tigris Cantus, some sort of humanoid bat, Anguis Cantus, Draco Cantus, and Ovis Cantus), and his power has been amplified by hundreds of times. The three are able to stall the fight for a long time, but soon become exhausted with no hopes of defeating Sho with the constantly changing environments and four nearly invincible noises at the same time. Neku calls out that he remembers all of them, saying that it's "Pi Face, Iron Maiden, Ram Crotch, Shades, and Triple Seven all at once!" and demands to know how Sho gained an invincible prowess. Sho ignores him and laughs in all of his forms and addresses Hype by saying, "This wouldn't have been necessary if you only became my proxy and shot him while you could." Suddenly, Hype falls to the ground and starts glowing, eventually exploding and engulfing the whole room into light. Neku and Rhyme are blinded but unaffected as all of Sho's noise forms simultaneously erase with a blood-curdling scream. After that's done, the three return to the plane of the UG with Neku and Rhyme worriedly looking down at Hype, who is twitching. Rhyme and Neku are horrified when they see that she's erasing, and as they help her up with one arm on each's shoulder, assuring her that they'll find the game master soon, Joshua comes through the hidden door that leads to the room of Reckoning. Hype is bewildered and confused at Joshua's appearance, and with difficulty, says, "I-I th-thought you w-were e-er... e-erased..." Neku looks surprised yet angry while Rhyme looks anxious. Joshua only says that he suspects that the three of them have questions and advises the three of them to follow him. Neku and Rhyme, still dragging Hype on their shoulders, look at each other and nod, and go through the door. The next part I actually already wrote out some time ago (you can say I was overly-excited about it) and I'll post that below under Chapter 5. The chapter then ends, but they aren't put to sleep.

_Chapter 16 : Week 1, Day 5_

The point of view switches to Neku's and picks up the same second of Hype's erasure. Neku's mind is in pandemonium, with a myriad of emotions (anger, hate, betrayal, confusion, stuff along those lines). He then turns to Joshua, demanding answers. Joshua ignores him and says that they should loot Hype while they can. An enraged Neku and distraught Rhyme asks what he means as Joshua lifts up his hands and summons hordes of taboo noise. Joshua then leaves the Room of Reckoning. Neku watches him leave in fury while Rhyme does as Joshua says and hands all of the things to Neku. Rhyme claims that she wants answers too and urges Neku to go on and follow Joshua while she holds back the noise. Neku is hesitant, but agrees. He chases after Joshua and is surprised to find him waiting for him in Dead God's Pad. Joshua claims that he knew Neku would follow him and will give Neku the answers to his questions. Neku asks his questions, and Joshua answers (I'll put the answers in the form of an explanation). Sho still tried to erase Joshua to win the Composer position even after his many defeats. However, Sho got desperate and went to dire measures. Joshua witnessed Sho Minamimoto tinkering with more taboo rituals and was able to accumulate the lingering remains of Higashizawa's, Kitanji's, 777's, and Konishi's souls and bind them into himself. However, this has never been done before, and thus never perfected. The sudden burst of power in Sho rendered him useless in fighting, but invincible to even the power of an angel. Joshua sensed that his prowess would need to gradually grow until Sho could control it for himself, and Joshua went into immediate work. He recalled how Neku, Shiki, Beat, and Rhyme were the strongest players in the game so far, and followed in Sho's example and tried the bind the souls into one. It needed a base, so he used a spare pin he found. Hype was created, but like Sho, she was nothing in battle. Joshua, by experiment, found out that he could quicken the process of her gaining power by reintroducing her to things familiar to her "past lives" (see explanation in notes), thus her reason for joining the game. He didn't originally intend to have her join in so early, though. He asks Neku if he remembers joining in the game late, which astounds Neku, as he does. Joshua then remarks that Neku got Hype's memory, something which confuses Neku, but Joshua assures him that he'll get to that explanation. Joshua claims that he didn't want to miss such an opportunity, as that specific game had so many similarities to Neku's first time in the UG, thus she joined on Day 5. He could also use the excuse that she wasn't there for the full week to make an excuse for her to play another game, also similar to Neku's experience. Her whole partaking in the game was simply for Joshua to build up his vessel, re-introducing Hype to familiar sights, events, and people so that she would grow stronger. Joshua then tells Neku that when Hype was erased, her soul wasn't completely wiped, and the remains went back to its original owners, and Neku got her memory portion. Joshua explains that Neku will be gradually receiving Hype's memories, in no specific order or amount. Joshua assumes that Neku has enough of her memory to know that Hype got drastically stronger each time she came into contact with something familiar. She also started to act and gain the personality of Beat each time something familiar caught her. Neku then realizes why Hype had Rhyme's voice when she was 13 and why the missions were so simplistic. As Hype's memory keeps coming in, Neku starts to feel her emotions, mostly of betrayal. Neku starts to have a breakdown of both rage and sorrow and threatens to kill Joshua, but Joshua interjects, asking Neku if he wants to know more. Neku continues his questions. Joshua explains that Coco unintentionally saw Joshua create Hype and was against the idea of using someone like that. Because he didn't want to bother with erasing a reaper or explaining what Sho did, he assured her that he wouldn't do anything with her. However, when Hype made it to the end of her Week 1, Coco felt sympathetic towards Hype and allowed Katsu to live again despite their tension, believing that it was the least she could do. She tried to avoid Hype the rest of the time, feeling helpless. However, sometime during this week, she found out why Hype existed and challenged Sho Minamimoto herself. She did more damage than the three of them ever did, but it was just a scratch, and she failed in the end. Neku starts getting angrier, but Joshua warns him to calm down or he won't get any more answers. Neku then continues his questions. Since Joshua didn't plan for Hype to be put into the game so early, he had to keep her in a stasis until the time for this week's game would happen. He kidnapped Beat and Shiki some time during Week 2, and even sent that mission mail after Sho erased the current game master (the one saying to find the rogue reaper). In a way, he was glad that Sho did so, as it allowed him to test Hype's current standings. She was stronger than he estimated at that point. After the week's end, Joshua "sacrificed" himself to further familiarize Hype. Afterwards, he put her in cold sleep until the next game. Joshua contemplated that if Shiki and Beat were gone for a week and a half, Neku and Rhyme would be more desperate for Joshua's help, which they were. They were brought to the UG only to help familiarize Hype further so that Hype would grow stronger, hence the oddly easy missions. While Neku and Rhyme did form a pact, since Hype is technically a compilation of their souls, she is considered both of them, thus also being pulled into battle and merging both of the noise planes. Hype had no memories because she is "nonexistent." Neku then demands to know why Joshua chose himself and Rhyme. Joshua replies that Neku and Rhyme are the strongest of the four. Neku is surprised, as he though that would be himself and Shiki. Joshua explains that Rhyme was always stronger than Neku, and reminds him that she only got erased because she sacrificed herself. Her imagination (which suffices as power in the UG) only grew when her entree fee was emitted, because with no ambitions, she could be anything she wanted. He was hoping that with Neku and Rhyme so close, Hype's soul would attract some of Rhyme's and Neku's, making her stronger. When she finally got to an amount of power that Joshua was content with, he used her as a pin and obliterated Sho, but such a prowess is unspeakable, and she was erased in the process as well. He assures Neku that Shiki and Beat are unharmed and will be returned to them when they return to the RG. Before Neku could question any more, Joshua cuts him off and reminds him that Rhyme is off fighting taboo noise. While since he is connected to her now due to Hype's soul, it is near impossible to erase taboo noise on one's own. Neku curses Joshua out before jolting through the door back to the Room of Reckoning. He and Rhyme, through hardships, defeat the taboo noise after a long and hard battle. Both of them are exhausted. Neku takes out the stuff they collected from Hype. They were just pins, but Neku doesn't recognize two of them. One is the bear pin that Coco gave to Hype. Neku scans it with his phone and it reads "Plithocyon Cantus." He notices that the other one has a black background and a distorted face of Hachiko on the front. The phone reads "Necromancer" and the chapter ends.

_Chapter 17 : Week 1, Day 6_

Neku and Rhyme wake up, confused and frustrated at the past events. They are in the Trail of Sinners. Rhyme is frantic to go back to Beat's body, but Neku dismisses the suggestion, claiming that even if they made it there, they can't do anything about it. Rhyme sorrowfully agrees. Suddenly, Uzuki shows up and introduces herself as the Conductor, which Neku snidely remarks he already knew (due to Hype's memory). She says that as much as she'd like to, she can't erase the two of them because of Joshua's orders, and claims that all they have to do is wait out the next two days. Neku sharply denies this and claims that he wants to avenge Hype and gain vengeance for being used as a tool. Rhyme agrees about avenging Hype, but has no idea what Neku's talking about being used as a tool. Neku promises to explain it to her when they finish the game, which Rhyme reluctantly agrees to. The two then ditch an irritated Uzuki to search Shibuya for Joshua. Eventually, they make their way to CAT Street and find themselves among the ruins of Wild Kat. Neku suddenly recalls Hype's memory of it being destroyed some time during the game. Neku applies this to Joshua's sick plan of having familiar things happen to Hype, but then wonders where Hanekoma went. The chapter ends.

_Chapter 18 : Week 1, Day 7_

Neku and Rhyme wake up in the Room of Reckoning with Joshua nonchalantly sitting in the throne. He congratulates them on making it this far, jocosely. Neku and Rhyme suddenly attack Joshua and he disappears. Suddenly, all of the pins in existence materialize out of no where and float to one entity in the middle. Joshua's form appears and he turns into his noise form, but it can't be seen as all of the pins are encircling him in a giant sphere. Rhyme and Neku then fight the giant sphere of pins, but it is seemingly impervious to all attacks, and it holds every attack in existence. Rhyme and Neku fight valiantly, but in the end, they lose. Rhyme and Neku are lying on the floor, exhausted and on the edge of erasure. The giant levitating ball of pins disperses and disintegrates as Joshua returns to his normal form and looks down at Rhyme's and Neku's body. He snidely remarks that Rhyme and Neku should have just taken his offer to go back to the RG. He muses how he always liked Rhyme and Neku and says that it's a shame they have to be erased, but something interrupts them. Hanekoma busts in through the doors from Dead God's Pad and barks, "Phones! Her pin!" Neku doesn't know what he means until he remembers the Necromancer pin that came from Hype and uses it. Joshua is befuddled but doesn't want to take any risks and tries to transform back into his noise form. Hanekoma engages in battle with Joshua, thus taking them to a different place, while Neku fumbles with his pockets to dig out the Necromancer pin. Hanekoma, sensing that Neku has it out, stops their fighting and he and Joshua reappear in the Room of Reckoning. Neku uses the pin, but to his bewilderment, all that gets put into his hands is a gun. However, it is at this time that Neku remembers Sho's visits to Hype during her Week 2, and before Joshua can react, he shoots the bullet at Joshua, who is visually hurt. Joshua falls to the ground and starts a gradual erasure like Hype did. Neku walks up to him, but Joshua only seems amused. Joshua remarks that two people have told Neku to "trust [his] partner," and now that he hasn't, he has made a grand mistake. Neku is about to tell him off, but Hanekoma interrupts by saying, "Thanks, Phones. I knew you could help me one day." Neku turns back to Hanekoma, greatly confused, and Hanekoma reveals himself. He is a fallen angel and is being hunted by the greater plane and cannot return there. He was also targeted by Joshua because Joshua eventually found out about his betrayal. Sho then came to Hanekoma for help, and Hanekoma helped him out by teaching him a ritual to bind souls. However, by the time Joshua was going to erase or hand in Hanekoma to the angels, he needed him during his project with Hype to help build his vessel, and thus spared him in an agreement to help Joshua by destroying his own cafe for the second time. However, Hanekoma knew that his actions would catch up with him. With no place to go, Hanekoma decided to erase Joshua, thus giving the angel plane a bigger event to deal with and taking away the heat from him. However, erasing Joshua would cause distraught and problems in the UG, and thus Hanekoma decided only to subtract Joshua from the equation before destroying the UG itself. However, the only things that could defeat Joshua were Sho, who was erased, or the bullet that he compiled parts of his reformed soul in. Neku and Rhyme are bewildered at this, and Rhyme mentions that she'd never thought that her benefactor would do something so twisted. Neku also claims that he lost all respect for Hanekoma at that moment and voices that the years have made him insane. Rhyme and Neku then engage in a fight with Hanekoma, and to their surprise, Joshua's slowly eroding body is also brought into the plane. Neku resents himself for doubting Joshua, and realizes that Joshua probably sacrificed part of his own soul to help save the UG from Sho. Joshua is unable to do anything though, and Rhyme and Neku are stuck fighting Hanekoma, while trying to shield Joshua at the same time. After a while, Joshua urges Neku to use the Necromancer pin again, to which he reluctantly complies. When he does, Joshua absorbs its power, and Rhyme and Neku realize that Joshua is going to sacrifice himself the same way that he sacrificed Hype. Before they can stop him, Joshua explodes into a light that engulfs the whole Room of Reckoning. Neku hears Hanekoma's deadly scream and the chapter ends.

_Chapter 19 : One Week Later_

I didn't actually write this one yet, but it's only an epilogue and what I have in mind is really short, so I'll just type it up now and post it below.

_Notes :_

During Neku's Week 1 (days 5-7), he randomly regains Hype's memories in no order and amount, so what he remembers of Hype's memories are randomized.

Also, I couldn't find a way to fit it into the outlines, but Hype gradually gains Beat's personality/demeanor as she gains familiarity to Neku's (and the others') experience in the game.

Hints at elapsed times were Hachi Fest's date, Katsu not showing up at Hachiko (he gave up hope that Hype would still be there after three weeks), and Koko/Coco claiming that she thought Hype was gone because she hasn't seen her for a while.

At some point during the taboo noise day, the cure drink pin saves Hype.

Rhyme description : An over sized hat with an oversized skull on the front (not Beat's hat). Her sweater from the game, except it's cut to be short sleeved. A denim vest that ends at around her midsection, and the sweater ends about an inch after (signifying that she's grown taller). She wears a red t-shirt under. White denim shorts that end after her knees. A black belt with her squirrel pin as a buckle. Her necklace is tied around one of her belt loops and sways against her leg when she walks. She grew out her hair to below her shoulders.

To be honest, I haven't imagined Neku two years later. I imagine that Joshua remains the same and is still 15, like how Rhyme and Hype are momentarily.

Hype is technically Rhyme _and _Neku, so they don't qualify as other players.

Throughout this whole time, there would obviously be some conversations as there was in the game. This was only my outline, so there are a lot of conversations missing.

Sho Minamimoto is still existent because if you recall from the game, Joshua said he took him out. However, his body was still there, just piled under a bunch of junk. When reapers, players, and noise are erased, they usually disappear from existence. Therefore, I believe that Sho was still "alive" after the whole ordeal, because Joshua kept him around for his own amusement.

In Solo Remix, Koko/Coco was a character added in an update. She's an NPC who stands at the Scramble Crossing and sells stuff under the name "Coco's/Koko's Secret Reaper Shop." It sells stuff for actual money through the app store(everything is $.99 the last time I checked). The things I remember she sold were 8 songs that were only available by playing tin pin against other people with Solo Remix, a 1,000,000 yen pin, and riceballs, which took up one byte and raised a bunch of stats.

It's also implied that Coco/Koko told Kariya about Joshua's "project" after Kariya spots Joshua in the game again.

* * *

Here's what I had written for chapter 5 so far. I haven't touched it in weeks though, so some of these things might not have existed in the final draft :

* * *

**WEEK 2, DAY ?**

* * *

_'Everything aches...' _I thought as I slowly woke up._ 'Ha... That's new...' _I thought, trying to make light of the situation.

My eyes fluttered open, twitching at the sheer pain of simply blinking. I raised my arm to my forehead, as if to quell my impounding headache. Instead, I felt how feverishly scalding my forehead was.

Using my other arm, I feebly pushed against the ground to sit myself up. As soon as I did, I leaned forward as if one hundred tons of weight were dropped onto my back.

My eyes refused to open. All I could do was groan at the pain, but groaning isn't really considered groaning if you can't make noise.

Suddenly, I felt a large wave of pain erupt in my head. I instinctively brought my hands to the sides of my head and held it. It didn't relieve my pain whatsoever, but I couldn't bring myself to bring my hands down.

My eyes were clenching shut and my arms couldn't move. My head was saving waves of pain throughout my body. Even breathing became a chore. With every breath, my throat lit of fire, only growing rapidly as I exhaled.

"Do you still have it?" a coarse, but familiar, voice asked.

_'...Have what?' _I wondered. That was when I learned that thinking has too become a chore. With every thought that came into my head, I felt like going mad.

"The bullet!" he snarled. "Do you have it?!"

He was angry, for whatever reason. But what bullet was he speaking about? Was it that odd metal object? _'So Katsu was right... It was a bullet. But what do I need it for?'_

"Hmph," he spat. "Not good enough either?" he asked himself, a tinge of rage and disappointment in his voice.

I heard rustling.

My pain started abating, and I was gradually able to put my arms down, using them to support myself. I progressively forced my eyes open. At first, it felt like salt was poured onto it. My vision was but a red blur. But then, I remembered that I was looking down into my lap. I blinked again, and some of the stinging sensation left my eyes, clearing my vision somewhat.

I painfully lifted up my head. I ignored the tormenting agony that spread like a wildfire throughout my body in reaction to my movement.

"Hehehe..." a dark chuckle echoed in my ears. The voice was sadistically content.

I winced; both at the pain and at the voice's amusement.

"Now listen up. He killed you," the voice informed me coldly.

_'...What? Who?' _The mere questioning of this claim brought back my headache. As my eyes instantly shut, my right hand instinctively whipped itself off of the concrete ground and straight to my forehead. My hand felt so heavy that I had to tangle my fingers in my hair just to keep it in this position.

I ruefully unbarred my right eyelids, which twitched open, but only barely. Squinting, I was able to make out a silhouette, that was somehow darker than the sky.

"I saved you yesterday," the voice went on, sounding somewhat proud of himself. But there was something to it...

_'Was it spurious..?' _I wondered, ignoring the pulse of dizziness my thoughts created.

"And we have a common enemy."

_'Who..?' _I wondered, wincing at the simple word. _'The Game Master..?'_

"That's why I've decided we're working together!" he proclaimed, the prowess in his voice unwavering. "So do you have it?!" he pressed. "I need to know this before anything else if we're going to take him down!"

_'...Him?' _And that thought was enough to knock me out.

I couldn't take it anymore.

My left arm that was holding me up lost all of its energy, immediately dropping me back to the concrete. My head impacted the concrete floor. I could feel every rock and crevice. But instead of pain came a welcome numbness.

* * *

**WEEK 2, DAY 2  
**

* * *

I jolted forward, expecting to be lying down.

But when I woke up, I was standing, so instead, I sprung forward. I caught myself with my dominant leg and instinctively sprung my arms up to catch my balance. Regaining my posture, I looked around.

_'The Scramble Crossing... Nothing suspicious about that...'_ I observed as I looked around my surroundings. _'Wait a second... Is that Joshua?'_

That wouldn't be so odd if he wasn't talking on the phone.

_'Can I do that..?' _I wondered as I dug out my own phone. I played around with the buttons, but nothing happened. _'No... Can't do anything. Is it just my phone? Or...'_

I looked at Joshua again, trying to decipher what he was talking about. However, with such a large crowd, it was hard. I was only able to pick out a few words and sounds.

"Yes... Min... Oto... Star... Of his..." I heard him say. He sighed. "Yester... He... Ild... My..."

I furrowed my brows. _'What the heck..? I guess there's no telling now...' _I approached Joshua, intent on seeing whether the mission mail came in or not.

"What? Today..?" he asked unsurely. "I don't know..." He seemed to notice me from the corner of his eye. He shut his phone and pocketed it.

I raised an eyebrow.

Joshua had what seemed to be a disapproving smirk. "You know, I was really counting on you," he mocked. "I really wanted to go somewhere, but there was a wall and you were nowhere to be found." He looked at me with expectancy.

I let my confusion show on my face. _'What do you expect me to say, oh smart one?'_

"Hee-hee... You can make up for it though," he informed me, an inkling of ridicule in his voice. "I want to go somewhere today," he stated flatly.

I shook my head and took out my cellphone, pointing to it.

"What? The mission mail?" Joshua asked. "It hasn't come yet. C'mooooon, let's go," he urged.

I could almost feel my eye twitching. _'Is he going to be a whiny little brat all week?'_ I adamantly shook my head again.

Joshua sighed, but it seemed fake. "Alright, why don't we make a deal?"

I cocked my head. _'A deal..?'_

"We head for my destination," he stated simply. "If we get the mission main, we drop my little errand," he continued, shrugging nonchalantly.

I was hesitant, but I nodded.

He held a smirk that seemed satisfied. "I knew you'd come around for me, hee-hee."

I scowled, which only seemed to amuse him further.

"Now, now... It wouldn't be good to get on each other's bad side. We are _partners_ after all," he teased, waving a submissive hand. "Now... I wonder how many walls we'll have to clear," he pondered to himself, turning away. He walked to the right.

I curiously followed him.

(This was all that I had written)

* * *

**Chapter 15 Scene : **(Week 3, Day 5)

* * *

I could barely keep my eyes open, and just holding my scowl became a chore. I could barely move, and every movement I made was torturous and twitchy. I felt _horrible_. If it wasn't for Neku and Rhyme, I'd be going no where, and I wouldn't be getting the answers I craved.

Joshua was standing in the middle of the Room of Reckoning. The room itself felt uncanny and ominous, but also hauntingly familiar. I felt bad that Neku and Rhyme had to drag me over here. My arms were around their necks, and I didn't even have the energy to grasp their helping hands.

"Now Hype, I'll start with you, seeing that you don't have much time left," Joshua mocked with crossed arms. His figure was blurring and clearing. I wasn't sure if I was waking up or falling asleep. "As you can see, I didn't exactly sacrifice myself, did I?" he asked in a hauntingly casual voice. "Hee-hee," he laughed that incredibly annoying laugh of his, eyes narrowed in amusement. "You'll figure out eventually, in a sense."

_That... Cheeky bastard..._ I thought with a scowl. I winced at how hard it was to even _think_ at this moment. I felt my face twitching at the attempt at any facial expression. I felt _tired. _Really tired. I felt like half of my body was non-existent, and some parts, even fizzing in and out of solidity.

"Now... Look behind me," he challenged with a gesture. There seemed to be four pods. "You see, matter that exists cannot just disappear, so even if one enters the game, they still exist in the RG."

I almost scowled again, but my face didn't move. I couldn't even _feel _it.

Neku seemed to sense my question; that, or he was just as eager as I was. "Get on with it, you bastard!"

Joshua chuckled and held up a submissive hand. "Patience, Neku."

Neku groused. I thought that he would lunge at Joshua if he wasn't helping Rhyme hold me up.

"Basically, your bodies need to be somewhere physically in the RG while your consciousness is in the UG," Joshua explained. He gestured to the four pods. "Shiki and Beat are here as well," he added in.

I couldn't see it, but I could only assume that Neku's and Rhyme's eyes were as wide as saucers. They attempted to race to the pods, but Joshua interrupted.

Joshua clicked in disapproval and shook his head, looking at Neku and Rhyme with fake disappointment. "Are you forgetting that you're holding someone up?" he asked tauntingly.

I could sense Rhyme's head bowing down in shame as Neku and Rhyme started walking slower.

"Yes, I needed them somewhere while I brought you two to the UG," Joshua continued. He then smirked. "Yes... You see, I've been planning this all along. Shiki and Beat were missing because of me."

_So... Are those two the two from... The posters..? _I wondered. I felt myself involuntarily try to wince, but my face remained deadpan. _It hurts... To think..._

"You..! YOU!" Rhyme exclaimed angrily.

"So when you said you promised that you'd help find them if we played..!" Neku growled, making Joshua put on a smug grin. "YOU HAD THEM ALL ALONG! WHY?!" He yelled so loudly that it made me feel deaf in my right ear. I was almost scared that he would drop me.

"Hee-hee." Joshua didn't even waver at these accusations. "You'll learn soon enough," he assured them, "but first... Hype, come over here and tell me who you see."

"She can't _move _you... You..!"

"Bastard!" Neku growled, finishing for Rhyme.

I noticed that we were halfway through the room, and Joshua was backing up with each step. _How did I... Not notice... This?_

There was then silence among the four of us. All that was sound was the rhythmic steps of Neku and Rhyme. I couldn't even hear the sound of my feet dragging against the floor anymore.

_Are they... Gone..?_

Eventually, we made it to the four pods. Neku and Rhyme held me up to get a better view. I heard Neku bristle in horror and Rhyme gasp in fear.

I slowly brought up my head with great effort. My vision shook as I looked at the pods around me. There were four familiar faces. I couldn't see their bodies, for there was only glass around the head area.

I looked at the first one. Orange hair, purple headphones. "N-Neku..." I managed to choke out. I turned to the next, my neck twitching at the movement. A girl with blonde hair and a large black beanie with a skull on it. "R-Rhyme..."

"Very good!" Joshua congratulated mockingly.

"Shut up!" Neku barked as I notice him worriedly look at the four pods from the corner of my eyes. He was looking back and forth.

When I looked at Rhyme, she was staring at the third pod with wide and dead eyes. I wondered how she held me up.

I followed her gaze. A blonde haired boy. I've never met him, but I knew him. "Be... Beat..."

Rhyme dropped me a bit when I said his name, but she quickly recaught me. It was as if she was in a trance.

I turned to the last pod. A brown haired girl with glasses. "Shiki..."

Neku's grip on me tightened a bit.

"B-But... But...!" I stuttered frantically, trying to look back and fourth again. I felt my through clog up. I didn't know this feeling. _Am I... Crying... Or am I... Just dying..?_ I had a headache and felt dizzy. A stirring feeling, but soon, I felt nothing. I was but a potato. I found it impossible to think.

"Where's Hype?!" Neku demanded.

"Hee-hee," Joshua chuckled, amused. "It took you that long to figure it out?"

My eyes widened. I was _horrified. _I felt my arms lighten, resulting in Neku and Rhyme to gasp, with Rhyme being snapped out of her stupor. I fell to the cold ground with a thud. No arms, no legs. I could see static surrounding me at the corners of my eyes. Speaking of my eyes... They were wide, but not with surprise. It was almost as if I had no eyelids.

"She doesn't exist."

My eyes couldn't go any wider. My mouth went slightly agape, trying to question why. _Why... Why..? Why? Why?! WHY!_ "Wh-why..?" I felt betrayed and helpless. _Trust your... Partner... What a pile of... A pile of shit..._

"WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?!" a frustrated Neku exclaimed.

The last I saw was Joshua looking down at me, a coy smile splayed on his face. His eyes narrowed in amusement. "You were nothing, but a tool."

I felt nothing. Nothing hurt. I couldn't feel. What was this taste? Bliss? It had to be bliss. But this feeling... I was betrayed. I'm dying. _I never... Existed..? _"A... A... A tool..."

"Hype!"

"HYPE!"

Their two voices were muffled. I thought I saw them reach for me.

My eyes closed.

Bliss.

* * *

**Week 3, Day 5 : End**

* * *

**One Week Later **(Chapter 19)

* * *

As soon as Rhyme and I woke up, we rushed back to the Station Underpass to look for any sign of anything. Once we made it to the Room of Reckoning, the throne was missing, but the pods weren't. Rhyme and I were relieved to see that two pods were vacant. Shiki and Beat were still in the other two pods, and we quickly got them out of it. They were unconscious for a few days until they woke up. Rhyme and I stayed by their sides until they did.

When they woke up, neither of them recalled how or when they were kidnapped, or that it even happened at all. They were their cheery selves as soon as they woke up.

Some time during their bed-rest, Kariya came to the RG. I was surprised to see him, as the visit was unexpected. He saw the need to inform me that both Joshua and Hanekoma were no where to be found, and that Uzuki resumed the position of Composer, and that he was offered the position of Producer, but denied it. However, the position was forced onto him. He didn't want it and somehow decided that he was going to come to me from time to time to blow off some steam. Even if I did object, he would come by anyway.

I was surprised when Kariya told me it was actually Hanekoma that erased the game master during Week 2. Apparently, Hanekoma was trying to stop Sho and Joshua from fighting, expecting it to destroy the UG. Hanekoma only wanted to evade trouble at the time, and didn't expect it to escalate this much.

_Pinky as Composer... _I wondered. I gave a shy chuckle. _Heh... God help Shibuya._

I did mourn a bit over Joshua's erasure. I was still mad at myself for using the bullet that Pi Face gave to Hype.

_I should have trusted my partner..._

And Hype... I gave her such a hard time, when she was being used as an even bigger tool than Rhyme and I were. I mourned her erasure as well, but she was in the four of us now. That wasn't so bad, or so I think anyway. I was left to wonder where Joshua's portion of her soul went. Hype was forever intertwined with Rhyme, Shiki, Beat, and I, but what of Joshua?

With Shiki taken care of, I had a mission of my own. My first destination was Hachiko. I know that he hasn't been there for weeks, but I just had to check. I was relieved to see him standing there, looking at the statue.

"The pins are gone, but... Anyone could've taken them," he muttered to himself. He sighed. "She's not coming back."

I went wide eyed. _He's actually here! _I walked over to him, nervous for some reason I couldn't comprehend. _How will I explain all of this..? _

He was walking away and I quickened my pace. I scoured my pockets for the Necromancer pin; sure, Rhyme and I could keep it as a memento, but we had parts of her soul. This guy didn't. I placed a hand on his shoulder.

He looked back at me quizzically, almost if I was a neighbor that stalked him.

I retracted my hand and gave him a hard stare. "Katsu, right?"

* * *

**The Voiceless Necromancer : End**

* * *

Alright, I know that it was a short epilogue, but I really didn't see a way to extend it. It's also corny, but I did write it in about 5-10 minutes, and it is only summing up what happened after.

I'll also be taking any questions, but I'm guessing no one actually read this XD

Oh well, I had fun typing it.

But looking back... My plot wasn't so good, was it?


End file.
